Sixers fans weren’t quite sure what to expect when the organization first signed Kelly Oubre Jr. very late in the 2023 offseason. Ultimately, at just a veteran’s minimum salary, it was a home run deal for Philadelphia, as Oubre went on to start in 52 of his 68 regular season appearances that season, plus all six playoff games against the New York Knicks. Oubre’s season earned him a two-year, $16.3 million deal to remain with the Sixers. Although his status as one of the few middle-of-the-road contracts
on the roster earned him plenty of spots in hypothetical trade machine scenarios, Kelly has remained a rotation fixture these past couple years.
The perception of Oubre’s game upon arriving in Philadelphia was a good stats on a bad team type of gunner, formed largely from his previous two seasons in Charlotte. Having to accept a veteran’s minimum deal that 2023 summer seemed to awaken something in Kelly. He has since reinvented himself as a complementary, two-way wing. Over the past three seasons, Oubre has defended well across multiple positions, often taking on the toughest perimeter defensive assignment. He rebounded adequately for his position and showed a real knack for finding seams as an off-ball cutter offensively. His “gunner” past also came to serve as a feature, not a bug. During the many occasions when the team was beset by injuries, Kelly was able to scale up his offensive usage to assume more of the scoring burden.
The wrinkle in Oubre’s player profile is his inconsistency as an outside shooter. To his credit, Kelly had the best three-point shooting season of his career last year, finishing 36.0 percent from behind the arc. However, that average mark belied a high level of streakiness to his game. Oubre has a tendency to go through some severe cold spells, something which became an issue during the Boston series this past postseason when he shot 16.0 percent across the seven games and the Celtics defense continued to give him more and more space in order to limit drivers. Whether the Sixers feel there’s still room for Kelly to improve his shot or if they’re willing to live with the inconsistency will be large factors in any decisions to re-sign him.
With Oubre hitting unrestricted free agency, he’ll be one of the more impactful early decisions for Mike Gansey and the new Sixers front office. More than likely, the open market will dictate how the Sixers act. If another team opts to blow their budget to bring Kelly aboard, Philadelphia may be content to let him go and try a younger option with a higher shooting upside. However, if the Sixers can sign him for somewhere around the mid-level exception, it seems like a low-risk move to bringing him back. The team is already thin on the wings even with Kelly, he gets along well with the current group, and meets Gansey’s criteria as a competitive guy who wants to be in Philadelphia. I certainly feel Oubre is a fountain, not a drain.
Kelly is an interesting personality and I admired his ability to do some serious self-reflection and adapt his game to carve out a more sustainable NBA career for himself. We’ll see how the market for him plays out, but I’m hoping he and the Sixers can come to terms to keep him in red, white, and blue.
How about you? Are you ready to part ways with Oubre or hoping he remains a Sixer heading into next season? Let us know in the comments.
