The Philadelphia 76ers aren’t going to face the New Orleans Pelicans at full strength on Wednesday. Once again, the Sixers have several players dealing with setbacks as they look to continue their winning streak on the road.
Lately, Philadelphia’s veteran wing, Danuel House, has been dealing with a quad strain. Heading into Saturday’s game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, the Sixers initially anticipated having House on board. A few hours before tip-off, House was downgraded to questionable. Before the game, he was ruled out for the night.
On a personal note, the timing was very unfortunate for House. After he started the season off in and out of the rotation, he was picking up steady minutes, averaging 15 minutes on the court in the four games leading up to the OKC matchup. The setback has kept House off the floor for the previous two games. Wednesday’s matchup will make it three in a row.
In addition to House, the Sixers will continue to roll without Jaden Springer as well. Although Springer wasn’t on the team’s injury report prior to Saturday’s game, he was labeled unavailable to play midway through the first half as he dealt with an illness.
Similar to House, Springer has missed the previous two games for the Sixers, and the trend will continue Wednesday night. With those two out, the Sixers will likely extend more playing time to the reserves Patrick Beverley, Marcus Morris, and Robert Covington.
Lastly, the Sixers will expectedly continue to roll without Kelly Oubre. Earlier this month, Oubre suffered a fractured rib off the court, which led to a multi-week absence at this point. Although Oubre was initially expected to miss a significant amount of time, he’s already back to participating in non-contact basketball drills.
On Tuesday, Oubre traveled with the team to New Orleans. It was his first trip since the injury occurred. He won’t get the nod to play on Wednesday, but Sixers head coach Nick Nurse left the door open for a potential return later this week.
If all goes right for Philadelphia, they could face the Boston Celtics with the entire roster healthy and available. For Wednesday’s game, they’ll remain shorthanded in the reserve department.
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