PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers will be whole on Wednesday when they take on the Washington Wizards. For the first time all season, coach Nick Nurse will have a full complement of players he can turn to out on the floor.
Kelly Oubre Jr. and Trendon Watford are officially available to play against the Wizards. Oubre has not played since Nov. 14 due to a left knee sprain while Watford has not played since Nov. 25 due to a left adductor strain.
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As far as their role is concerned, Nurse gave some insight into how he will use both players before the contest as there will be a minutes restriction for both.
“It will be, for sure,” Nurse stated. “I’ve talked to Simon (Rice) about that, but I think it’s more of a situation where—probably not even going to come into play tonight. I’m not 100% sure I’ll use them both, and if I do, it’ll probably be pretty limited tonight.”
It makes sense that both will be limited. Both Oubre and Watford are important pieces for the Sixers and they don’t want to rush either player in an effort to get them ready for the grind.
“Just, again, it’s been a while, and there hasn’t been a great chance to get super fast action going, right?” Nurse added. “So I think, again, getting them out there and getting them going is in the plans, but I also don’t want to totally disrupt kind of some of the rhythm we’ve got going here as well. So let’s get them out there. Make one step forward tonight by getting them a few minutes.”
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Joel Embiid will also play against the Wizards. He was listed as probable and is in which completes everything for Nurse as Philadelphia has its full roster.
“It is great getting them all there,” Nurse said. “It’s the first kind of accomplishment, or first step, I should say. Then getting them all to a level of conditioning and rhythm and like their peak performance. That’s going to be a ways away yet, but this is the first step and that’s when we can see all the things we can really do eventually.”
The Sixers and Wizards will tip off at 7 p.m. EST from the Xfinity Mobile Arena.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers discuss return plan for Kelly Oubre Jr., Trendon Watford