Jared McCain will return to the 76ers’ lineup for the first since Dec. 13, 2024. Bill Streicher / Imagn Images
Nov. 3, 2025Updated Nov. 4, 2025 12:41 pm EST
CHICAGO – On Sunday night, following Philadelphia’s 129-105 win over the Brooklyn Nets, Sixers guard Jared McCain sat in the locker room in street clothes, eating a bowl of food.
On Tuesday night in Chicago, McCain will be sitting in the locker room, peeling off a sweaty uniform.
For the first time this season, Philadelphia’s second-year guard will play in an NBA basketball game, league sources said Tuesday. McCain is returning from a ligament injury to his wrist that required surgery just before training camp began. This will be McCain’s first basketball game in almost a calendar year. He injured his knee early last season, after a month of play that surely would have put him in the NBA’s Rookie of the Year conversation.
The Sixers need McCain badly, if only because they need a guard capable of eating into some of the minutes Tyrese Maxey and V.J. Edgecombe are playing. For example, Maxey played almost 40 minutes on Sunday night in a game the Sixers won by 24 points. That being said, for as dynamic as Maxey and Edgecombe are, McCain is dynamic in his own way.
He’s one of the best players in the league at moving without the basketball, and one of the few players in the league capable of bending a defense without having the ball in his hands. He’s a terrific and fearless shooter with deep range, and he’s an adept pick-and-roll player, despite shooting the ball being his major strength. McCain likely begins his season on a minutes restriction. But, even on a pitch count, the Sixers so badly needed a capable body in the backcourt that whatever amount of minutes he plays will be a real help.
Shockingly, the Sixers and Bulls on Tuesday night will represent one of the marquee games of the NBA’s young season, as the two teams are sitting atop the Eastern Conference with identical 5-1 records. Philadelphia adding McCain to its backcourt will surely help, as the Sixers will also face the Cleveland Cavaliers (4-3) to round out this current three-game road trip.
Nov 5, 2025
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