CAMDEN, N.J. — The Philadelphia 76ers have some positions on the roster they have to figure out as they move forward in the preseason. While the guard-heavy lineups will be the focus, coach Nick Nurse and Co. have to figure out who the backup center is on this roster.

Nurse has a lot of good players he can turn to. Whether it be second-year big man Adem Bona, veteran 2-time All-Star Andre Drummond, or newcomers Jabari Walker and Dominick Barlow.

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Walker will get a big look at the 5 as Nurse likes Barlow more as a 4 or even on the wing at the small forward spot. After two games in Abu Dhabi in the midst of a lot of long travel days, hard practices, and then the two games against the New York Knicks took a toll on him, but Nurse believes Walker can be that rotation player for Philadelphia.

“I think just, again, by the nature of the size and stuff, that he’ll end up there some,” Nurse said of the 6-foot-7 Walker. “He ended up there a little bit on the trip. I’m not so sure he’s got much practice there right now, but the keys for me are, can he rebound the position? First of all, which I think he can even as a 5. Like, he didn’t rebound—I think we’ll all see him rebound more as we get going. He even said that about his legs, too, like, ‘Coach, normally, I’m grabbing a lot more rebounds than this.’ And I said, ‘I know! I’ve watched your rebound,’ so that’s the first thing.”

Walker averaged 4.5 rebounds in his three seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers including averaging 7.1 rebounds in the 2023-24 season. He shot 38.9% from deep in the 2024-25 season as he began really expanding his range so Nurse believes Walker can step in, grab rebounds, and knock down 3s which will make it easier for the guards to do what they do when he’s out on the floor with them.

“Offensively, I think it’s going to turn into probably a little bit less of the short roll reading situation and a little bit more of the safe transfer, pick-and-pop, that kind of stuff because again, I think he’s going to be a definite threat from the 3-point line,” Nurse finished. “So that gives us a decent advantage to spread the floor out and let some more of the guards have some increased driving lanes.”

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Walker and the Sixers will keep things moving forward when they take on the Orlando Magic in the preseason on Friday.

This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Jabari Walker receives expectations from Sixers coach Nick Nurse