Doc Rivers, Mark Daigneault Talk Isaiah Joe Before Philly Return

Isaiah Joe's back in town.

Isaiah Joe is back in South Philly for the first time since his last game donning a Philadelphia 76ers uniform. 

Just a few years ago, Joe was a young prospect coming out of Arkansas on the Sixers’ radar. Leading up to the 2020 NBA Draft, the young sharpshooter was heavily linked to the Sixers as a potential pick.

Sure enough, after the Sixers spent their first-rounder on Tyrese Maxey, the Sixers snagged Joe with the 49th pick. 

During the 2020-2021 season, Joe spent an average of nine minutes on the court in 41 games. He drained 37 percent of his threes on three attempts per game.

The following year, Joe appeared in a career-high of 55 games. He averaged 11 minutes on the court, knocking down 33 percent of his threes.

By year three, Joe was on the Sixers’ roster bubble during his third NBA preseason. While many assumed Joe would crack the final roster, the Sixers made a shocking move and cut the young sharpshooter loose.

Eventually, Joe landed with the Oklahoma City Thunder. While Joe wasn’t originally in the Thunder’s rotation, he’s picked up consistent minutes as of late and has appeared 18 straight games, averaging 18 minutes on the floor.

Isaiah Joe back in South Philly for #Sixers vs. #Thunder pic.twitter.com/GakVuAi3Ai

— Justin Grasso (@JGrasso_) January 12, 2023

“I give him a lot of credit because he got waived after training camp,” said Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault before Thursday’s matchup between the Sixers and Oklahoma City. 

“Training camp is critical in terms of your team coming together and the players kind of declaring themselves on that team and that season,” he continued. “(Isaiah) missed that opportunity with us. He had limited opportunity to kind of show what he could do and was kind of at the back of the line. We looked for some opportunities to get him out there, but it was kind of few and far between. Early on, every time we threw him out there, it was like he was ready to play and make some shots. He’s a hard-playing guy who plays defense and competes. He plays inside the team structure and the more opportunity he got he kind of rose to it. And he’s emerged as a regular rotation player for us, and he’s earned that in tough circumstances, which I give him a lot of credit for.” 

With the Sixers and the Thunder being on two different timelines, Joe benefitted from being in a different situation. In Philly, Joe was a young guy on a team that was stacked with stars and veterans who were developed, proven, and ready to win now.

Meanwhile, the Thunder are a rebuilding roster full of young prospects who are working on developing their games with valuable playing time on the main roster during the regular season.

“I don’t see a lot of games, I don’t watch them a lot, but there’s like spikes when he plays a lot of minutes, some nights he doesn’t play a lot, but when he does get his opportunity, he looks great,” said Sixers head coach Doc Rivers discussing Joe before Thursday’s game. “He looks great. He’s making shots, he’s always competed defensively overall. I’m just happy for him. You know, our roster is so deep, and it’s just good to see him play.”

Since becoming a regular in the Thunder’s rotation, Joe has averaged 18 minutes on the floor. The young guard has accounted for nine points per game while hitting on 44 percent of his threes, taking roughly five threes per game.

The last time Joe played the Sixers was on New Year’s Eve in Oklahoma City. At the time, Joe shot 3-5 from the field, knocking down a couple of threes, and producing eight points. 

He’ll get another opportunity to go against his former team on Thursday. This time, at his former home at the Wells Fargo Center.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.