PHILADELPHIA – After the Sixers concluded their Monday morning shootaround in advance of a late game against the Denver Nuggets, Kelly Oubre Jr. and Trendon Watford participated in some intense four-on-four action, with each player having three assistant coaches as teammates.
The next time Oubre and Watford take the floor for a game at Xfinity Mobile Arena, will they be donning full uniforms?
Oubre, who has missed nearly two months with a left knee LCL sprain, and Watford, out for over a month with a left adductor strain, are both nearing returns to action, presenting rotation jolts for a Sixers team that is suddenly humming. But to add a pair of forwards back into his rotation, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse must also subtract from the group that has cultivated so much recent momentum.
In this week's Sixers mailbag – the first of 2026 – let's dive into Nurse's options once Oubre and Watford are back:
From @ChrisBernucca: Upon Kelly Oubre Jr.'s return, whose minutes get marginalized?
If it is alright with everybody, I am going to include Watford as part of Chris' question. In addition to Oubre, who averaged over 37 minutes per game before going down on Nov. 14, the Sixers will have to find minutes for Watford, who logged 21.0 minutes per game before his injury on Nov. 25. Even now, when healthy Oubre should be one of the higher-minute players on this team; if Watford is rolling he will be one of Nurse's top reserves but should have a decent bit of playing time regardless.
Of late, Nurse's rotation with everyone other than Oubre and Watford healthy has featured nine players: a starting lineup of Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Paul George, Dominick Barlow and Joel Embiid, plus a bench of Quentin Grimes, Jared McCain, Jabari Walker and a center; recently Adem Bona has played over Andre Drummond in that spot.
The most obvious way to free up a spot is to once again take Walker out of the rotation. He has been stellar for a two-way signee, but the 23-year-old has not made much offensive impact at all if he is not grabbing offensive rebounds. But Walker does do that quite often and his physical defense is an asset. He remains someone Nurse trusts in the frontcourt, but he is likely not going to be in the regular rotation if (when?) the Sixers are at full strength.
But Walker has been right on the fringes of the rotation; even if Watford is the only replacement factored into this someone else's minutes have to be cut. The trimming becomes more significant when factoring in Oubre, whether he rejoins the starting lineup and sends Barlow to the bench or turns into another "sixth starter" sort of piece for Nurse. Oubre will not have to be closer to 40 minutes than 30 minutes anymore once he returns, but he should at least be in the 25-30 range.
Lately, Grimes has played well over 30 minutes per game off the bench, and as important as he is on both ends of the floor that number can be trimmed for someone coming off the bench. Nurse has discussed in the past that if Grimes does not start, the only way for him to play "starter minutes" is to play for 15-plus uninterrupted minutes in each half. Perhaps trimming a few minutes off of each stint will keep him fresher.
Edgecombe is averaging nearly 36 minutes per game as a rookie, and Nurse was adamant from training camp on that Edgecombe's success would be determined by how much he plays. Edgecombe, 20, has shown no signs of slowing down. But he has recently been topping 40 minutes, and that might not be sustainable. Edgecombe was open and honest talking about the Sixers' two four-day layoffs in as many weeks helping him recharge before his latest surge. He looks terrific right now, but he is about to reach the same number of games he played in his lone collegiate campaign at Baylor.
But the real question looming here: with Jared McCain still failing to make his mark on games, can the Sixers afford to play him in the 15-22 minute range that he has typically fallen into this season? Nurse generally prefers a nine-man rotation; unless he removes McCain from his regular mix he will have to go to 10 players in order to get Oubre and Watford back on the floor. McCain has already struggled mightily playing in two short stints, and Nurse has made a concerted effort to give the 21-year-old a leash that is a bit longer so he feels comfortable playing through mistakes.
Much of McCain's second NBA season has been spent struggling, first with mobility and then with his shooting stroke impaired. But now, McCain looks like he is in his own head. Does Nurse believe McCain's current issues are physical or mental?
"Well, I think he just needs to play more," Nurse said. "Again, 11-plus months off and just needs to play more."
But McCain has been back for more than two months now. There is now a larger sample size of him struggling as a sophomore than there is of him thriving as a rookie.
Nurse does not have any obvious, foolproof option as he looks to find minutes for Oubre and Watford. Every option has a drawback. But if those two players rejoin the team in the coming days without any of their teammates going down, Nurse will be in a position every coach dreams of finding themself in.
MORE: VJ Edgecombe is learning how to play off of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey
*From @kellenpastore.bsky.social:*The Sixers have started a staggeringly large number of starting lineups throughout the whole of 2025. Will this continue in 2026, or will the organization take steps to have a more consistent starting five?
Nurse found himself in a joking mood after the Sixers’ win at Madison Square Garden on Saturday when a reporter asked him about his team finally experiencing some continuity of late.
“Three games in a row having the same lineup,” Nurse said. “You’ve got to check your notes, that might be a record for us the last 18 months.”
That grouping — Maxey, Edgecombe, George, Barlow and Embiid — has been outstanding.
Maxey and Edgecombe look like they have a real shot at becoming the best backcourt duo in the NBA for years to come; both players have outperformed expectations on offense and defense. Barlow, a gem of a two-way signee destined for a standard deal later this season, is a perfect fit for Embiid with his size, length, athleticism and instincts in the frontcourt. George’s second season with the Sixers has not been perfect, but the nine-time All-Star wing has been very good, making consistent two-way impact in whatever ways the team needs.
But Oubre — a prideful player who made surprising changes to his game last season, prompted by a benching — was starting before he went down and earned every bit of that spot.
Oubre is a more valuable and versatile player than Barlow, which is not a condemnation of the 22-year-old by any means. The Sixers’ best possible offensive unit would be their current starting five with Oubre replacing Barlow. The veteran swingman is more of a volume three-point shooter than an accurate one, but teams generally defend him on the perimeter, while Barlow is routinely ignored if he is not near the basket.
If Embiid’s recent defensive progression escalates and he ends up returning to his previous standing as a high-level rim protector, the Sixers could easily replace Barlow with Oubre in their starting lineup, open games a bit small and still be quite good defensively while improving their offensive ceiling quite a bit.
But as the Sixers hedge their bets on Embiid and do their best to lighten his workload, maximizing his minutes next to Barlow might be for the best.
So, the real question: once Oubre is not just back on the floor but fully ramped up, will he take Barlow’s starting spot?
The best idea on paper would be to play the matchups. Oubre could start against smaller teams with more ball-handling threats, with Barlow returning to that spot against opponents with more size or ways to challenge Embiid’s limited mobility.
That idea, though, does not go along with the idea of continuity that has been stressed by Nurse and his players for over a calendar year. Nurse has generally tried to stick with one group to start when possible rather than utilizing platoons, but his plethora of rotation options could allow him to begin mixing and matching more often.
In this regard, changes and shuffles are not inherently bad. They should just be caused by strategic considerations, not injuries.
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