First things first, Dominick Barlow had to set the record straight: no, he did not attend St. Joe’s Prep in Philly.
Barlow attended Saint Joseph High School in Metuchen, New Jersey, as a freshman before
the Hackensack native transferred to Dumont High School. He made it clear back in the early days of training camp that despite the confusion, he’s very familiar with the Philadelphia area and does consider this a “full-circle moment” to be so close to home.
After cups of coffee with the San Antonio Spurs and Atlanta Hawks, the 22-year-old is hoping to put it all together and stick with the Sixers in 2025-26. His debut in the Sixers’ opening night win over the Boston Celtics was a strong start.
Despite his age, Barlow has three years and 96 games worth of NBA experience. He took an unconventional path, forgoing college and signing with Team Overtime in the Overtime Elite league at age 18. He went undrafted in 2022 but quickly signed a two-way deal with the Spurs. With both San Antonio and Atlanta, Barlow managed to play his way into standard deals.
That’s why when he entered free agency in 2025, many expected the 6-foot-8 forward to find a standard deal. Well, perhaps Barlow could’ve, but this chance with the Sixers was one he felt he couldn’t pass up.
“I mean, I had opportunities. I’ll say that,” Barlow told Liberty Ballers when asked if he could’ve signed a standard deal elsewhere.
“My thing was finding fit over necessarily a standard deal or whatever,” he said of his free agency. “That’s obviously like the goal [to get a standard deal], but it also has to be the goal in the right situation. And I think this situation was the best for me. … Me and my agent went over a bunch of different opportunities, and we thought that this was the best one to try to find a home in the league.”
Barlow looked right at home Wednesday night, stuffing the stat sheet with 13 points, eight rebounds, five assists and one impressive block of Derrick White.
Coming into the season, two of the biggest question marks around the Sixers were the team’s ability to rebound and the four position. Barlow has a chance to help both causes.
Nothing in Barlow’s career raw NBA stats will blow you away, but looking at his per-36 minutes numbers, a few things stand out. He makes good decisions with the basketball and can offer solid rim protection and rebounding.
“I think Nick [Nurse] and Daryl [Morey] were very direct on what they wanted out of me,” Barlow told LB. “They gave me a role that basically said, if I’m able to do this, I will play and play significant minutes to help this team win games. And that was important for me, because at the end of the day, like, yeah, I could be on a standard deal and sit the bench somewhere, but I’d rather be on a two-way and winning, helping our team win a lot of games.”
Leading up to the Sixers’ trip to Abu Dhabi for a pair of preseason games against the New York Knicks, the team held two practices. After the first day, Nurse was asked which players stood out the most. Nurse gave two: rookie VJ Edgecombe (prescient) and Barlow (also kind of prescient). The following Sunday, Nurse was asked again — again, he mentioned Barlow.
Opening night offered a glimpse of what Nurse has been seeing.
Between Barlow and Jabari Walker, it feels like Morey has found a market inefficiency. Both Barlow and Walker have a decent amount of NBA experience while still having upside. They also both have glue-guy traits — players who are willing to do the dirty work around stars, know their roles and can act as a connective piece. The Sixers have an open standard roster spot. It doesn’t seem like much of a leap to think Barlow could be destined for it.
For all Barlow displayed in the first game, he might still have more to offer. He’s talked about Nurse empowering him to pull the ball on the floor and get to the rim. Barlow’s decision-making and skill have slowly trickled out over the course of the preseason and first regular season game.
The next step: his jumper, something Nurse has particular interest as a former shooting coach and lights-out college shooter.
“I definitely feel like I’m making progress on the shot,” Barlow said. “Really confident in it right now. If I get an open look, it’s going up for sure. But yeah, I mean, I’ve worked with a couple different people on staff on it, and everybody’s input has been great. I could tell that they really put in the plan and they take time to really think about what’s gonna make me better.”
Barlow was 0-for-2 from deep on opening night. It’s a work in progress, but speaks to how the young forward has room to grow.
But that’s not what he’s here for. He’s here to do what he did Wednesday night. If he can do that consistently over the course of an 82-game season, he might just find a home in Philly.
