76ers Rival Loses Key Player to Season-Ending Surgery and Former sixers first-round pick to work out with the team
With just over a month left in the regular season, the Philadelphia 76ers find themselves in the thick of the Eastern Conference standings. One of the teams on the heels recently suffered a massive blow to their rotation.
On Saturday afternoon, Adrain Wojnarowski reported that Indiana Pacers froward Bennedict Mathurin will have season-ending surgery. He is having the procedure done to fix a torn labrum in his shoulder.
Mathurin, 22, was in this midst of his second season with the Pacers. He appeared in 59 games before this injury, averaging 14.5 PPG, 4.0 RPG, and 2.0 APG.
This is a tough blow for the Pacers, as Mathurin is a key piece to their young core. He has accepted a role off the bench for them, providing a scoring punch for the second unit when Tyrese Haliburton is off the floor.
The Pacers went all in on making the playoffs this year when they traded for Pascal Siakam from the Toronto Raptors. Losing Mathurin is a tough blow for them as they are now without a key depth piece.
This injury affects the Sixers in a big way. The Pacers are neck-and-neck with them in the standings, sitting in eighth place. Currently, the Sixers have just a half-game lead on Indiana as we approach the final stretch.
Still armed with a pair of All-Star talents in Haliburton and Siakam, the Sixers still have to worry about the Pacers moving forward. They’ll be looking to end this season on a high note by ending their playoff drought.
The season series between the Sixers and Pacers has already concluded. Joel Embiid and company won the first matchup, with Indiana winning the next two.
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76ers News: Former first-round pick to work out with the team
This former first-round pick is slated to work out with the Philadelphia 76ers in hopes of getting into the roster.
A tough stretch run in the leadup to the 2024 NBA playoffs currently embroils the Philadelphia 76ers, which are facing a tall task of needing to improve their playoff standing without their best player and their core guys being in and out of th lineup due to nagging injuries.
Embiid’s absence has been particularly painful, especially with the 76ers stuttering on both ends since he missed significant time due to injury. In his stead, Paul Reed and Mo Bamba have been getting the minutes at center, but neither have provided consistent production to abate the huge void he left on offense and defense.
Fortunately for Philadelphia, it seems like help could be on its way. According to Shams Charania, Kai Jones, the 19th overall pick in the 2021 NBA Draft, will work out with the 76ers in the coming days to potentially help shore up the 76ers’ front court.
The 23-year-old big man was notably waived by the Charlotte Hornets before the season began. Embattled by off-court problems at that time, Jones himself requested a trade out of the franchise before he was cut from the team.
Since then, Jones repeatedly bared that he continued to stay in condition in anticipation of a return to the league. This time, he’s slated to get his first crack at it, and given the 76ers’ pressing need for reinforcements at his position, he could very well be worth the gamble.
Jones was tethered to bench duty for most of his first two years in Charlotte, but he flashed glimpses of potential as an agile center with great finishing ability. There’s also reason to believe that his once-promising perimeter game from college could translate with more time.
Let’s see if Jones manages to woo Philadelphia’s brass into signing him for the rest of the season in preparation for the postseason.
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