Matisse Thybulle Believes He's Trending Towards a Return vs. Pelicans

The Philadelphia 76ers have dealt with their fair share of injuries lately. Heading into the first game, the starting forward Tobias Harris missed the matchup due to knee soreness. After the first game, two-way guard Grant Riller and third-year defensive standout Matisse Thybulle dealt with setbacks of their own.

Riller is currently the furthest from returning as he underwent surgery for a torn meniscus. Meanwhile, Thybulle and Harris have both returned to the practice court and could potentially be ready to go for the Sixers' regular-season opener against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night.

A little over a week ago, Thybulle was ruled out in Philly's second preseason matchup against the Toronto Raptors due to shoulder soreness. When the Sixers made it clear Thybulle wouldn't participate in the matchup, they set a one-week timeline for the guard to receive a re-evaluation.

He missed the next preseason battle against the Brooklyn Nets and was sidelined for the next practice. Although Thybulle saw the practice court last Thursday, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers was confident he would miss Friday's preseason finale against the Detroit Pistons. Sure enough, Thybullde did.

But on Sunday, Thybulle was among a couple of players who returned when the team participated in its first post-preseason practice. After the session ended, Doc Rivers offered a promising update on the young defensive standout.

"(Tobias Harris and Matisse Thybulle) were good," said Rivers. "Matisse, I wanna say made it through without coming out much other than us pulling him out. Tobias, we were more careful with quite honestly. Some of the halfcourt pick-up stuff, we didn't keep him on the floor a lot. He's fine, but for me, I need him to get to Wednesday."

Not too long after Rivers assessed Thybulle's status, the young guard spoke for himself and confirmed that he was feeling as good as he looked in terms of the injury.

"Good, yeah, it feels much better," Thybulle stated. "It feels good to get back out there." When asked whether he was trending towards playing Wednesday night's game or not, Thybulle was confident in his answer.

"Absolutely, yeah," he said. "That's been the plan, and everything's been on track."

The Sixers are set to take on the Pelicans away from home on Wednesday. With two practices to go before the big night, Thybulle has time to prove that his shoulder's good to go, and he's in proper game shape for the regular season.

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

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