April 4, 2026, 11:28 a.m. ET
PHILADELPHIA — The Philadelphia 76ers needed somebody to step in and produce while Joel Embiid rested for the final stretch run of the game in Friday’s win over the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Wolves offer a lot of size between Rudy Gobert, Julius Randle, and Naz Reid, and coach Nick Nurse decided to turn to his veteran big man.
After going to Adem Bona in the first half with little success, Nurse went to Andre Drummond in the second half. There were some brief minutes where Drummond and Embiid played together before Drummond went solo, and the Sixers needed all of what Drummond gave in nine minutes.
The 14-year veteran had four points, six rebounds, a steal, and a block while being a plus-11 on the floor. He gave the Sixers a big presence against Minnesota’s big men in his minutes with and without Embiid.
“Just probably the size of Gobert,” coach Nick Nurse explained in his decision to go to Drummond. “I mean, Joel was excellent tonight on the defensive glass, but Drum just gave him just enough help there for a stretch. He just kind of cleaned up some rebounding, and Drum was up on the screen-and-rolls getting his hands in there. He’s got good hands.”
A pro’s pro, Drummond has had different roles all throughout the season whether he was playing or not. He has switched between being a part of the rotation and not seeing the floor for a long stretch, but he has always stayed ready. That’s what being in the league 14 years will do for a player.
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“Professionalism, man,” Tyrese Maxey said of Drummond. “He’s done a great job with that. Bona’s played really well for us and Process plays, sometimes he doesn’t play. So, sometimes he goes from starting to not playing to starting to not playing, and he’s done a really good job. He’s helped us win a lot of games.”
The Drummond and Embiid minutes were interesting as Drummond normally enters for Embiid, but once the big fella got rolling, Nurse called an audible and had Drummond enter and play alongside Embiid in the third quarter.
“I had an idea of doing it tonight, because they usually have a couple bigs down there, and it was kind of presenting itself,” Nurse added. “Well, it presented itself when it was getting ready to put Drum in, and then Jo, kind of, as Drum was waiting to go in for him, hit a couple shots. And I just decided to flip that so it wasn’t totally against some pregame thoughts, and it just kind of presented itself there. Obviously, it’s one of those lineups that I’ve been wanting to look at a little bit here down the stretch as well.”
The Sixers will continue their push for the playoffs on Saturday when they play host to the Detroit Pistons on the second night of a back-to-back.