Oct 25, 2025; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Kelly Oubre Jr. before action against the Charlotte Hornets at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

Nick Nurse Heaps Praise on Sixers' Veteran Wing

Originally posted on Philadelphia 76ers on SI
By Declan Harris | Last updated Oct 28, 2025 7:38 PM ET

On Monday night, the Philadelphia 76ers took on the Orlando Magic, looking to extend their two-game winning streak to a third consecutive match. The Sixers would go into the match lacking a huge piece of their prior two victories, Joel Embiid, who would miss the fixture due to injury management on his left knee.

The lack of the former MVP meant a few different things for the Sixers to figure out, whether it was their scoring in the front court, a solution for Franz Wagner and Wendell Carter Jr, or perhaps most notably, who would gather the loose balls on the court.

Against the Charlotte Hornets, veteran big man Andre Drummond would have to be that source of rebounds for Philadelphia, recording 13 boards in the final 15 minutes of the match. However, against Orlando, Kelly Oubre would step into that role - and then some.

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Across his 39 minutes on the court, Oubre would record 25 points, ten rebounds, four assists, and two blocks, managing to be a jack of all trades for the Sixers.

What did Nurse make of Oubre's performance against Orlando?

Given the dominance that Oubre displayed on Monday night, Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse would state that it has the potential to be one of the best games that the veteran wing has had since arriving in the City of Brotherly Love three seasons ago.

"Kelly was awesome, that was one of Kelly's best games, if not his best game as a Sixer, he was awesome," Nurse explained to the press following the match.

Bill Streicher-Imagn Images

One matchup that caught Nurse's eye was his battle against Paolo Banchero, who, as the Sixers' coach points out, is a bit bulkier than Oubre, but didn't translate it to being more dominant in isolation.

"Right from the beginning, he had, I've spent a lot of time guarding [Paolo] Banchero right, giving away, I don't know, 50 pounds maybe, and you just kept battling him. I mean, it is tough."

As previously mentioned, Oubre recorded ten rebounds against the Magic, with six of those coming on the defensive glass. This is an area of the 29-year-old's game that Nurse has been pleased with throughout the opening three games of Philadelphia's campaign.

"He's been defensive rebounding really well this year, and they're pretty emphatic ones. He's coming up, and we're trying to get him to come out and get over the top of the other team's big guys," Nurse stated. "He's been working on it, and he's been really doing it, because he just kind of springs up and snaps them down."

This article first appeared on Philadelphia 76ers on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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