The Philadelphia 76ers will be without Caleb Martin in their matchup with the Houston Rockets due to upper back soreness. Originally listed as questionable for the Wednesday game at the Wells Fargo Center, Martin was ruled out for the first time all season ahead of warm-ups.
Martin took a hard fall in the Sixers’ win on Friday over the Brooklyn Nets and started their next game on Sunday against the Los Angeles Clippers but played only 13 minutes because of the soreness he experienced later in the game. He didn’t participate in Philly’s latest practice and joined Joel Embiid, Paul George and Kyle Lowry as the players ruled out vs. the Rockets.
“It was the landing. It’s been sore since that,” Nick Nurse said. “He had considerable pain but tried to play through it a little bit the other night. Didn’t help that. Still has considerable pain but he’s day-to-day. Shouldn’t be long. Just got to relieve some of that pain for him.”
Caleb Martin to miss first game in 76ers tenure due to back soreness
Martin has been a starter in all but one of the 76ers’ first 16 games of the season, averaging 9.9 points, 4.9 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.1 steals per contest while shooting 41.2 percent from the field, 30.4 percent from deep and 67.9 percent from the charity stripe. His defense and hustle have been helpful but, like most of the 76ers’ role players, has not fully lived up to expectations.
The 76ers have had a brutal start to the 2024-25 season, posting a 3-13 record ahead of their matchup with one of the best teams in the Western Conference. There are real conversations about whether it would be more beneficial to tank for a high draft pick. With how brutal its injury luck is and how bad the rest of the roster has been, Philly may not even have a choice soon.
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“My thoughts is: I don’t like it,” Nurse said of the litany of injuries that have plagued his team to begin the season. “It’s not much fun. It’s certainly not. It’s sorta hard to see what we’ve got. But [the] ball’s going up here pretty soon, so we gotta get ready to go play.”
Nurse said that Tyrese Maxey, Jared McCain, Kelly Oubre Jr., Guerschon Yabusele and Andre Drummond will start against Houston. It will be the 76ers’ 10th different starting lineup so far this season.
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