As the Philadelphia 76ers prepared for their Monday night matchup against the Miami Heat, they anticipated missing a couple of key names, which hasn’t been anything new lately.
The star center Joel Embiid is still recovering from corrective procedure on his knee, while Robert Covington remains sidelined due to a knee-related setback of his own.
Meanwhile, the two-way standout De’Anthony Melton is dealing with a back injury. There were times it seemed Melton was healthy and ready to roll after missing some games due to lumbar spine soreness, but his return on multiple occasions didn’t last very long.
The setback started on January 2, when the Sixers took on the Chicago Bulls. After missing three games, Melton returned to action for two matchups. Following a 25-minute shift against the Sacramento Kings, Melton missed 18 games in a row.
At last, the veteran would return on February 23 against the Cleveland Cavaliers. He was eased back into action, averaging fewer than 19 minutes on the court while coming off the bench across two games. In his third game back, Melton left the game with under nine minutes of playing time. He wouldn’t return, as back spasms led to him getting ruled out.
The Sixers offered an update on Melton on March 6. At that point, he had missed three games in a row. According to team officials, Melton was starting an “offloading period” and had plans to be re-evaluated in two weeks.
With the two-week mark nearly here, Melton has yet to return to the court to begin ramping up with some practice. While that could happen really any day now, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse isn’t going to jump to conclusions.
Instead, he left those who were wondering with a concerning update.
“There is none,” Nurse told reporters regarding a question about a potential update about Melton’s status prior to Monday’s game against Miami.
Considering Melton has missed 28 of the Sixers’ previous 31 games without a return date in sight in concerning for a team that needs all of the reinforcements it can get for a potential playoff run in 2024.
That’s not to say Melton won’t be around for postseason action, but he’s running out of time to return and get into optimal shape before the most critical stretch of the season.
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