CAMDEN, N.J. -- As the Philadelphia 76ers continue with their season, they hope to soon welcome Dominick Barlow back into the lineup. The 4-year big man from Overtime Elite has yet to play in the 2026-27 season due to a lower back issue, but one has to believe he is close to a return.
As the Sixers got back to work at practice on Saturday afternoon, coach Nick Nurse and the team went through some lighter stuff due to the game with the Indiana Pacers being a 1 p.m. EST start on Sunday, but Barlow was able to participate in some stuff as they move forward.
"He’s making progress," Nurse said of Barlow. "He was a part of the practice today, again, it’s kind of a game day type practice today with the early start, so it wasn’t super intense, as you
might expect. But he was out there doing some stuff, yeah. Yeah, he’s progressing. I don’t know when he’ll be ready to go, but, at least he’s making some progress now."
Barlow is an athletic big man who does a lot of the little things for Philadelphia. He averaged 7.7 points and 4.8 rebounds in his first season in Philadelphia as he played well enough to be converted from a two-way deal to a standard one. When he returns, he will give the Sixers a big boost on the frontline.
"Size, athleticism, rebounding, toughness," Dean Wade said of Barlow. "The past couple years, they put him on like kind of like the best offensive players. So he's another guy that can switch 1 through 5. He's strong. He can rebound. He's got a high IQ. So he's going to help us a lot."
It will certainly be a big help for Nurse and Co. in terms of having more options to backup Joel Embiid. Of course, Jabari Walker has done a terrific job filling in for the injured Adem Bona, but Barlow will give Philadelphia a big boost, for sure.
"It just depends again, what it looks like," Nurse said of Barlow's role. "I think he’s going to probably have to play more five than we probably envisioned. But, Jabari is doing that as well, and, it’s kind of like, if the situation calls for that, I’d imagine that’s what he’ll help out the most."
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Philadelphia 76ers injury updates: Latest on big man Dominick Barlow
