PHILADELPHIA — Rookie sensation VJ Edgecombe, Dominick Barlow and Quentin Grimes will all miss Tuesday’s game against the Brooklyn Nets with an unspecified illness.
It started with Tyrese Maxey, who missed a win over the Indiana Pacers and a loss to the Atlanta Hawks due to illness more than a week ago. Joel Embiid followed with a missed back-to-back against the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks this past weekend.
“It has gone for a bit. [Maxey] would seem to be an isolated case, and now it’s kind of making its way a little bit obviously. But the guys that weren’t feeling great yesterday, didn’t report to practice,” Nick Nurse told reporters ahead of Tuesday’s game.
Philadelphia cancelled shootaround ahead of the matchup with Brooklyn when those who missed Monday’s practice did not report improvement on Tuesday morning. Edgecombe joined Barlow and Grimes on the injury report at 9 a.m., Eastern time.
“Just keeping the guys away until we can bring them to the game tonight, the ones that are healthy. Just to try to do any little thing we can,” Nurse said.
Fear of spreading the illness down the roster does impact their decisions regarding team activities. They opened the practice facility for those who wanted to work on shooting before hosting the Nets.
“Guys need to get ready for the game and all. They still can do that” said Nurse.
While the Nets are just 8-19 on the season, this matchup gets slightly more complicated with two of Philadelphia’s core guards and starting power forward out. With Kelly Oubre Jr. and Trendon Watford also out due to injuries, reserves Jared McCain and Justin Edwards will ostensibly be promoted to the starting lineup. That inherently means that Philadelphia’s depth will be depleted. One way or another, Kyle Lowry and Eric Gordon likely figure into this game. Youth doesn’t usually beat experience, but it does often beat age. Those minutes will be important for Brooklyn to have any chance.
Nurse would like to maintain the team’s separation going into Wednesday. The Sixers would prefer not to practice on Christmas Eve, but that will depend on how Tuesday’s game against the Nets goes.
The entire league is off for Christmas Eve. Philadelphia was not called upon for the Christmas showcase this season, so the Sixers will not play again until Friday, when they visit the Chicago Bulls.
As for the Nets, Haywood Highsmith is out as he recovers from right knee surgery. Promising rookie Drake Powell will miss the game with a sprained right ankle. Featured scorer Cam Thomas remains out with a strained left hamstring.