Shake Milton's Playing Status vs. Thunder on Friday

The Philadelphia 76ers will get a reinforcement on Friday night. For the first time in over a month, Sixers backup guard Shake Milton will be in the rotation.

The last time Milton took the court was on January 3. As the Sixers were taking on the Houston Rockets, Milton took a hard fall and landed on his back. Clearly in pain, Milton came off the court as he was unable to continue playing.

After spending 20 minutes on the court that night, Milton was removed from the lineup and ruled out for the remainder of the matchup as he was dealing with a back contusion.

As expected, Milton missed the next game against the Orlando Magic two nights later. Since the Sixers didn’t put a timetable on his setback, it seemed Milton was day to day and should be back soon. However, that wasn’t the case.

For 18 straight games, Milton was sidelined. When he offered an update on his injury a few weeks back, Milton confirmed he was able to do limited work despite feeling better. In addition, Milton said he had a tentative target date for his return but wouldn’t share it.

Whether Friday night’s game was his target return is unclear or not, but Milton was upgraded to questionable as early as Thursday night. After going through shootaround on Friday morning and warmups a couple of hours before tip-off against the Thunder, Milton was officially cleared for action.

Considering it’s been over a month since Milton played, he could be on a minutes restriction as he gets back into game shape. Regardless of whether he has limited playing time or not, Milton’s presence should be a solid boost for the Sixers following the trade deadline.

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

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