76ers Downgrade Multiple Players on Injury Report vs. Raptors Friday

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*UPDATE: De'Anthony Melton and Patrick Beverley have been ruled out. Robert Covington has been upgraded to available.
The injury report is even more crowded as the Philadelphia 76ers prepare for their Friday night matchup against the Toronto Raptors.
Initially, the team added Nic Batum, Robert Covington, and De’Anthony Melton. Batum was ruled out as he continued dealing with a hamstring strain. Friday’s game will mark his second-straight absence.
As for Covington and Melton, they were considered questionable. A couple of hours before the game was set to tip-off, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse noted that Covington had been upgraded to probable for the matchup. Barring any unexpected setbacks, the veteran wing is on pace to play.
As for Melton, he’ll have to go through his pregame routine in order to decide whether or not he’s ready to compete after going down with a thigh injury during the first half of Wednesday’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Latest Additions to the Sixers’ Injury Report
Shortly before Sixers head coach Nick Nurse addressed the media for his routine pregame press conference on Friday night, a team official noted that Philadelphia’s reserve center Mo Bamba had been ruled out for the night. He’s the latest Sixer to deal with an illness, which will keep him off the court.
Additionally, the Sixers added the veteran guard Patrick Beverley to the injury report. According to a team official, Beverley has experienced heel soreness recently. As a result, he is questionable for Friday’s third outing against the Raptors.
Lately, the Sixers have been on quite a roll, winning seven of their last ten games. While their Eastern Conference-leading win streak was snapped on Monday against the Chicago Bulls, the 76ers bounced back on Wednesday night with a notable win over the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Some setbacks might give the Sixers a different look than usual on Friday, but they remain favored to collect a second-straight win against the Raptors, whom they have defeated twice this season already.
Justin Grasso was a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s Philadelphia 76ers On SI Network. Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writers Association. Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoMedia Threads: @JGrassoMedia
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