It looked as if former Kansas Jayhawks basketball player Kelly Oubre Jr. might have to take his talents overseas a year ago, when the 6-foot-7 New Orleans native received little interest on the NBA’s free-agent market.
The 28-year-old 10th-year pro played a one-and-done season at KU in 2014-15 before being selected in the first round of the 2015 NBA Draft by Atlanta, then traded to Washington. He signed a one-year contract for the league’s veteran minimum of $2.9 million with the Philadelphia 76ers on Sept. 26, 2023.
He was met with low expectations in Philly after signing a week before the start of training camp. But Oubre had a standout season with his fifth NBA team . He averaged 15.4 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He started 52 of 68 games, hitting 44.1% of his shots including 31.1% of his 3s.
Oubre didn’t have to wait long for an offer from Philly this past offseason. He signed a two-year, $16.4 million deal with the Sixers on July 2.
He is expected to remain a starter, a well-paid starter, this season and in fact has been one of the bright spots of Sixers training camp.
“I think that he has a whole different level of comfort,” second-year Sixers coach Nick Nurse told sixerswire.usa.com . “He seems he went from about year two to 10 for me, right? The difference is we really know who he is. He knows who we are. He knows what we’re doing. He came back stronger and in shape. He’s focused,” Nurse added.
Oubre scored 16 points on 6-of-9 shooting (3 of 5 on 3-pointers) in Philly’s 121-111 exhibition loss to Minnesota on Friday night. His role solidified again this preseason, he was rested and didn’t play in Philly’s Saturday night exhibition against Boston.
“He’s playing hard, but he seems like he’s more mature and more comfortable which is really nice because I do think we really know what we have,” Nurse said. “He’s really happy to be here and we’re really happy to have him.”
Nurse didn’t go as far as deem Oubre a possible All-Star game participant at this stage of his career.
“I think that I don’t want to get carried away, right?” Nurse told sixerswire.usatoday.com. “I think I want to kind of see where and how that continues to translate into the kind of the course of the season and all that stuff, but it is — I think he knows what we expect. He certainly understands it. He’s athletic. He plays hard. He’s really trying to figure out just little nuances with where he fits, offensively, all that kind of stuff.”
Nurse noted that Oubre “gives us a great cutter, trying to figure out cleaning up a little bit the efficiency of the shots he takes and things like that, but again, he just seems like a different maturity level and comfort factor. He had a rough summer before and ended up here on a minimum (contract) and, I think worried about his job, playing through that all year, fighting for his contract, all that stuff, and now we got him on a recent deal with some security which is great.”
Oubre was relaxed and confident in speaking with media members at the recent Sixers Media Day.
“Night and day different,” Oubre said of the summer of 2024 compared to a year earlier when his future was uncertain.
“It was definitely a dark summer last summer. This summer I was able to handle the business side of it fairly quickly. To secure a home for my kids and my family was amazing. Words can’t do it justice, but you’ll see a lot of fire this season.”
Oubre cracked a joke concerning changes he’s made entering the 2024-25 season.
“Exciting changes … I’ve been trying to connect my mustache to my goatee. I’m getting there. I got it aligned up this morning,” Oubre said. “I’m 28-years-old and now my facial hair is coming in. I’m really excited to get back out there,” he added in a serious tone. “It’s going to be a very fun year.”
Oubre said with his contract situation settled he was inspired to work out even more than in past offseasons.
“Last summer (2023) the whole offseason went by I didn’t touch a ball until that last week before training camp,” he said. “I went to the park with my wife and shot, but this summer I was able to work out, get a lot of reps in. I went out to L.A. (to work with personal trainer). I’m ready for whatever. I’m trying to be water out there. I’m excited to help all my brothers do whatever I possibly can.”
He left the media guessing as what he meant by the water reference. Known as a solid defender, Oubre offered a nickname for himself, plus teammates Paul George and Caleb Martin.
“Just call us the ‘water stoppers,’ call us the ‘plumbers,’’’ he stated at Media Day . “There’s an infinite amount of opportunities for us on the defensive end. We are definitely very versatile, agile, athletic; but the difference is we all want that challenge. It will be fun fighting with them (George, Martin and others) to see who guards and stops the guy who is trying to get off. It’s going to be fun, though.”
Oubre said he’s comfortable enough to be a leader on a team that has former KU center Joel Embiid, a former league MVP who has been rested during training camp in advance of a long season.
“I’m a vocal individual anyway so I just, anybody, it doesn’t matter who it is. If anybody needs help or if anybody’s struggling with something that coach is saying and I actually know how to translate to them then I’ll do that every single time,” Oubre said.
“It just been easy,” Oubre added of year two with Philly. “I know what coach is trying to implement. I know what we need to do and what we didn’t do last year so just trying to break down that door.”
He’s as healthy as he’s been in a while. The shoulder and wrist he hurt late in the season are “fine,” he said.
Also … “I (went to) a wrist therapist this summer. She helped me get more space within my wrist to get my wrist back when I shoot. It’s all good I been shooting it pretty well in the gym. I’m excited to be more consistent.”
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