Should Kelly Oubre Jr. Reclaim His Starting Job Upon His Return to the Sixers?

The Sixers are getting terrifyingly close to full strength. Prior to Monday's 125-124 overtime against the shorthanded Denver Nuggets, head coach Nick Nurse told reporters that Kelly Oubre Jr. (knee) and Trendon Watford (adductor) are expected to get cleared "any day now" from their respective injuries.

"Would expect any day now to get some clearance on them, hopefully," Nick Nurse says of Kelly Oubre Jr. and Trendon Watford's statuses.
— Austin Krell (@NBAKrell) January 5, 2026

Oubre has been out since mid-November with an LCL sprain, while Watford went down with his adductor injury roughly a week-and-a-half later. In their absence, Dominick Barlow has forced his way into the starting lineup and hasn't looked back.

Prior to his injury, Oubre started the first 12 games of the season and averaged 16.8 points and 5.1 rebounds in 34.8 minutes. He was shooting a career-high 49.7 percent overall, although he shot only 34.3 percent from deep on his 5.6 three-point attempts per game. Watford started in four games while Barlow was sidelined with an early-season elbow laceration, but he moved back to the bench upon Barlow's return and doesn't seem like he'll be in real consideration for a starting job.

Tyrese Maxey, VJ Edgecombe, Paul George and Joel Embiid are locked-in starters, leaving only one starting spot up for grabs. Should Oubre reclaim that job upon his return, or should Barlow keep it and turn Oubre into a super-sub off the bench alongside Quentin Grimes?

The case for starting Barlow

Prior to Monday's game against the Nuggets, the five-man lineup of Maxey, Edgecombe, George, Barlow and Embiid had played 138 possessions together and outscored their opponents by 7.5 points per 100 possessions. Barlow's overall on/off splits are being weighed down by the lineups with Andre Drummond in place of Embiid, which got outscored by 25.7 points per 100 possessions and ranked in the 1st percentile leaguewide.

With Edgecombe asserting himself as far more of a bona fide offensive threat than expected as a rookie, the Sixers already have four high-upside scorers in their starting lineup. Whomever they start alongside George at forward needs to be a lower-usage role player who's willing to mix it up and do the dirty work.

Barlow is shooting only 25.0 percent from deep, which makes him somewhat of a clunky offensive fit alongside Embiid, who's shooting a career-worst 23.5 percent from three-point range. However, he's leveraging the space that opponents are giving him by driving right off the catch rather than running a dribble handoff with the nearest teammate.

As long as Barlow can keep defenses honest and take advantage when they send extra help at Embiid or Maxey, his hustle plays make him a valuable addition to the starting lineup. To wit: Barlow is fourth on the team with 0.9 screen assists per game and third with 0.7 loose balls recovered per game. That's the type of glue-guy impact that the Sixers need alongside their Big Four.

Having the lower-usage Barlow in the starting lineup would also add even more scoring punch to the Sixers' bench. With Jared McCain still struggling to regain his rookie-year form, the combination of Oubre and Quentin Grimes off the bench would give Nurse plenty of firepower to tap into even when Maxey and Embiid need a breather.

The case for starting Oubre

While the Sixers have proof of concept of the starting lineup with their Big Four and Barlow, they've yet to see it with Oubre in place of Barlow. In fact, Oubre hasn't shared the floor with both Embiid and George for a single minute this season. Last year, that trio played only 270 minutes together and got outscored by 6.8 points per 100 possessions, although just about everything from last year can be thrown out due to injuries.

Oubre is far more of an offensive threat than Barlow, so putting him into the Sixers' starting lineup would give opponents no place to hide defensively. He isn't an especially efficient three-point shooter, although he's better from deep than Barlow and he isn't afraid to let it fly. He's also one of the most effective cutters on the team, which could help the Sixers unlock a new dimension on offense, particularly given the attention that Maxey and Embiid routinely command.

Starting Oubre would leave the Sixers bereft of reliable scorers off the bench outside of Grimes, but that shouldn't be a huge issue if Nurse staggers his lineups correctly. As long as he avoids hockey-style substitutions where all four of Maxey, Edgecombe, George and Embiid are off the floor together, Grimes and Oubre should still see plenty of time where they aren't the focal points of the offense.

Oubre also isn't a zero in the glue-guy department. Although he's a bit smaller than Barlow, he has been a fairly solid rebounder for most of his career. Oubre had a pair of double-doubles early this season and narrowly missed out on a third amidst a hot start of his own.

Since Oubre has missed nearly two months of action, the Sixers figure to ease him back in slowly and keep Barlow in the starting lineup for now. But if Oubre begins to outplay Barlow, particularly alongside the other starters, it wouldn't be surprising if Nurse opts to make a change at some point.

Either way, the imminent return of Oubre and Watford should help the Sixers wash the bad taste out of their mouth from Monday's inexplicably bad loss to the Zombie Nuggets.

Unless otherwise noted, all stats via NBA.com, PBPStats, Cleaning the Glass or Basketball Reference. All salary information via Spotrac and salary-cap information via RealGM.

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