76ers Coach Nick Nurse Breaks Silence on Complicated Center Situation

It seems that the Philadelphia 76ers are going to continue to go with the players they have on the roster to address the issues surrounding the depth at center. In the first preseason game Ariel Hukporti suffered an Achilles injury that’s going to sideline him for the entire 2026-2027 season.

While many have gone into a frenzy amid the controversial situation, head coach Nick Nurse has made his comments and revealed his contingency plans for the lack of big men.

It seems that Dean Wade, LeBron James, Dominick Barlow, and Jabari Walker will be the candidates that the nurse utilizes behind backup center Adem Bona. 

So there’s a really big problem here, and it’s becoming a bit of an oversight. James is not adequate enough to be playing the center position. Nurse is asking a 41-year-old who has arthritis and sciatica issues to play at the center position. There’s no way James had this in mind when he signed on board to be a 76er. 

Now yes, injuries happen, and it’s not something many expect to happen, but it still doesn’t make matters any better when you’re asking James to be your center at any point in the season. The 76ers are one player away from a disaster situation, and it’s really going to create a huge wrinkle in what the team originally had planned for this season. 

The other part to this conundrum that many fail to realize is that if they go small ball with any of these players, they will be susceptible to these East rosters who have big men that can control the paint and make life a nightmare for the 76ers. Teams like the Cleveland Cavaliers, Detroit Pistons, and New York Knicks have big men that can be matchup problems, as quite a few of them can score outside the paint. 

Lastly, this could mean a large uptick in minutes for Joel Embiid. It’s true that he’s in better shape and could be conditioned to handle it, but there’s no way it’s good for the long-term goal of this team. Embiid is already expected to be a focal point on the team. Many are anticipating the team to go through him and Brown, which is why it’s very alarming to hear.

Nurse will use smaller players for stretches of the game. If Embiid is forced to play more because the small ball lineup puts the team in a hole, there could be some chatter of overloading Embiid, and they’ll need him if they want to get through the playoffs.

Nurse has won a championship, so there’s faith that he knows what he’s doing. But if this plan backfires, this could be a season of disgruntled fans and pessimistic energy all around.