Before the Philadelphia 76ers’ Tuesday night game against the Chicago Bulls, head coach Nick Nurse discussed the status of a few injured players. He said that De’Anthony Melton and Robert Covington weren’t dealing with anything too serious.
Nurse was even hopeful that one or more of those players might return for the team’s Friday night game against the New York Knicks.
Melton took part in a small amount of the team’s Friday morning shootaround. According to Nurse, he also worked out alone both before and after the session on Friday. The head coach had hoped that Melton would return on Friday, but that did not happen.
Melton may be able to return to the squad for their back-to-back game against the Utah Jazz on Saturday night. The seasoned guard was sidelined by the Sixers once more, making this his third consecutive absence of the week.
Nick Nurse talked about Melton’s injury again prior to Saturday’s loss against the Jazz. Melton doesn’t appear to have had any setbacks, but the Sixers lacked the confidence to start him as early as Saturday.
Nurse told reporters, “He didn’t quite get enough done last night to let them pass him for tonight,” as reported by Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire. “I think he would be prepared to play in the next game. We have a few more days left. He’ll be prepared for the subsequent one.
After three days off, the Sixers travel to the South to take on the Atlanta Hawks. A few days ahead of time, it’s usually too early to declare a player out, but Nurse sounds optimistic that Melton will be back in action the following week, assuming no real setbacks.
The 76ers could use the boost right now because they dropped their two games this weekend against the Jazz and the Knicks.