Jan 16, 2026; Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA; Philadelphia 76ers guard Kelly Oubre Jr. (9) controls the ball against the Cleveland Cavaliers during the second quarter at Xfinity Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Bill Streicher-Imagn Images Bill Streicher
As much as Sixers coach Nick Nurse is doing everything in his power to try and get wins for his team in what is a pretty wide open Eastern Conference this season, there are the games within the games the coach has to consider.
The first of those challenges is just what might his rotation look like when his team is fully healthy, which it is creeping closer and closer.
Some teams are afforded that luxury from the beginning of the season, with a rotation that doesn’t waver all that much, as long as the team can avoid any major setbacks in the injury department. There could be changes here and there, but for the most part, coaches have an idea heading into a season what the blueprint is.
That really hasn’t been the case for Nurse since coming to the Sixers before the 2023-24 season. Mainly due to the myriad of injuries often hampering his star player in Joel Embiid, Nurse has had to juggle lineups almost on a daily basis. But now there seems to be a bit of consistency in his players’ availability and a glimpse as to how he may handle his lineup moving forward. That was on display Friday when the team faced the Cleveland Cavaliers for the second time in three nights at the Xfinity Mobile Arena. During the 117-115 loss, Nurse had the tasks of trying to match up with a difficult Cleveland lineup while also trying to find offensive mismatches for his team. It was a true look into the latter part of the season for the Sixers and how they may handle certain situations and with what players on the floor.
Nurse rolled out a starting lineup of Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Joel Embiid, Paul George and Dominick Barlow. The first four are givens and no doubt will be in the starting lineup for the rest of the season, obviously barring injuries. Barlow’s spot there seems to be the one that could change, through no fault of his at this point.
The 6-foot-9 Barlow brings energy, especially in the rebounding area. He has a great nose for the ball and even when he may not coral a rebound, he will often keep the ball alive with his long reach and good anticipatory skills. His points will come through his hustle more than anything that would be called for him. Should Nurse stick with Barlow for about 15 minutes a night as a starter, that means the other four are scoring and defending in a way that satisfies the coach.
Kelly Oubre subbed for Barlow just past the midway point of the first quarter on Friday, and wound up playing 26 minutes in the loss, compared to Barlow’s 16. Oubre, a starter for most of his time here in Philadelphia, provides more of an offensive presence than Barlow, but is still working himself back into shape after missing close to two months earlier this season with a sprained knee. When fully healthy, perhaps he’ll go back to the starting lineup, or maybe Nurse would like to bring that scoring punch off the bench along with guard Quentin Grimes. Forward Jabari Walker has also started six games for the team this season and may also be considered by Nurse to take that starting spot from Barlow.
“It’s great with progress going forward with these guys being back,” said Nurse before his team fell to 22-18 on the season. “There’s still some health, I think, that’s still not 100 percent or conditioning and certainly rhythm. There’s still some ways to go with a few of these guys to get them back to fully where they want to be and where we’d like them to be and where we need them to be. And then can there still be a little bit of the reshuffling of the roles and reshuffling of the deck a little bit. There’s only one way I’ve ever known to do it is you have to do with how guys are playing. They’ve got to earn that rotation spot back and they’ve got to make the most of their minutes. Sometimes that means they’ve got to make the most of their minutes in lots of different circumstances. I think that’s super healthy for a team that they can have guys fighting for minutes in rotational spots so I think we’re going to go through that for a while.”
Second-year big man Adem Bona appears to have solidified the backup spot behind Embiid, for now. Bona is extremely active on the defensive end and is an excellent rim protector. His offense is suspect and is mostly reliant on offensive rebounds or little shuffle passes in the lane. Veteran rebounding phenom Andre Drummond is also available for Nurse.
Friday was a key look into all this because in Cleveland you have a team that is extremely difficult to match up with as they have star guard Donovan Mitchell leading the way. Mitchell scored 35 points in Cleveland’s 133-107 win on Wednesday. So when the Sixers keyed on him defensively Friday, he switched to being a facilitator, dishing 12 assists while scoring 13 points. Jaylon Tyson took over the scoring role for the Cavs, as he buried 29 points against the Sixers in the win that was solidified on a dunk by Evan Mobley with four seconds to play.
The Sixers finished the game with their starting lineup, the exception being Oubre in for Barlow. In both games, the Cavaliers seemed to find the mismatches much better than the Sixers. Perhaps that gap will close once Nurse is more comfortable on what his rotations will be.
“We are 0-3 against them and we are trying to find different ways to figure out the double-big lineup (Mobley and Jarrett Allen) and the double-guard lineup with (Mitchell) and D.G. (Darius Garland) and sometimes (Craig) Porter,” Maxey said. “It’s been difficult for us to beat them.”
Perhaps Nurse and his players will figure it out, not only against the Cavaliers but others on the remaining 42-game schedule. It won’t be easy. It never is. But if health remains and the competition among his team gets better and better, it’s a good problem for a coach to have.
