Jared McCain has not played more than 11 minutes in a game since Jan. 5. After he didn’t even see the court in Friday night’s 117-115 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, many people openly wondered whether
he might be better served by a G League stint with Delaware. On Saturday afternoon, the Philadelphia 76ers arrived at the same conclusion:
McCain played in a couple of games with the Blue Coats back in November. At the time, he was very recently removed from coming off the injury report for a torn UCL in his right thumb. He also hadn’t played an NBA game since December 2024 following meniscus surgery in his left knee, and going through a couple different brace options for that knee at the time. It made sense for him to get some game action in Delaware to assist in the proverbial ramp up so he could get back to receiving regular rotation minutes with the big club.
Now we’re in mid-January, and any progress has stalled, if not outright regressed. Head coach Nick Nurse is not trusting McCain with significant minutes, and in fairness, Jared has not been playing well. He is shooting just 35.4 percent on the season, including 32.3 percent from three-point range, and that’s supposed to be the strong area of his game. A recent tough stretch aside, the Sixers are winning games, or at the very least having games come down to the wire, and fighting for playoff position. Nurse is in a position where he wants his best players on the floor as much as possible, and it’s not as though he’s hurting for guard options.
However, as I wrote about a month ago, it’s not exactly a fair situation for McCain either. He’s coming off a couple of significant injuries, didn’t have a full training camp or preseason, and now is supposed to be out there like he never missed a beat? It has to be very hard to work yourself back into a rhythm in a real game environment when you’re maybe seeing two stretches of five-minute run on a given night.
Hopefully, another stint down in the G League will be just what Jared needs to knock the rust off and all parties will benefit in short order. The Blue Coats will next play a pair of games in Indiana against the Noblesville Boom on Sunday and Monday afternoon.
