How a benching and conversations with Nick Nurse helped Kelly Oubre Jr. evolve for Sixers

Anyone who spends time around Kelly Oubre Jr. will say the same thing: Oubre, 29, has enormous amounts of pride and confidence. He has the utmost faith that his skills, mentality and on-court style are leading him down the right path. Oubre lives to embrace the doubters and the skeptics; proving them wrong feels like an inevitably to the veteran swingman who is in his second season with the Sixers.

For all of those reasons, Sixers head coach Nick Nurse likely knew he was about to have some uncomfortable conversations. It was the middle of November, and with his team sputtering, Nurse made the decision to remove Oubre from his starting five. Oubre, who cemented himself as a starter in his first year with the organization, has never been shy about the importance that being part of the starting lineup holds to him. But Oubre was just not playing well enough. He found himself unable to score efficiently and was playing out of control far too often.

Convincing Oubre to change the ways he is steadfast in his commitment to would be a challenge for anyone. But Nurse benching him served as a wakeup call for Oubre, and it opened the door for some pivotal discussions.

"Coach also sat me on the bench for a couple games for that perfect reason," Oubre said when asked about the adjustment. "So I think I learned real quick from that."

Oubre, whose game had become largely predicted upon downhill driving and rim pressure, needed to become a more composed penetrator. There was no need for reckless drives like this one:

Kelly Oubre Jr. recklessly drives to the rim early in the season, hoping to draw a foul call. He comes up empty: pic.twitter.com/2T2wFgZeim

— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) March 7, 2025

For Oubre, the right play is often utilizing his terrific frame and length, stopping a step or two shorter and — the key difference — play off of two feet.

"It was just trying to get him to make the right play," Nurse said last month. "And getting to two feet enables him to do that a lot more."

Indeed it has, as the rate at which Oubre makes harmful plays has declined dramatically. To anyone who has watched Oubre night in and night out during a season which has mostly been disastrous for the Sixers, it is clear how much his decision-making has improved.

But how much of a difference can a subtle adjustment in footwork really make? How much of this is merely anecdotal? Oubre explained in great detail just how valuable of a tweak it has been.

"It’s allowed me to slow down instead of just going off one leg, through contact, expecting fouls," Oubre said. "Now I can play off two feet, even take a breath, find my teammates and kind of get my legs under me to shoot the ball as well. So it’s just a different element of my game that I’m working on. But it’s coming along."

Oubre watched as his optionality on drives expanded tremendously from becoming more reliant on two-foot drives. Over the last few months, comfort taking and making short jumpers from inside the paint like this one has become a staple of his scoring:

Kelly Oubre Jr. has become extremely comfortable utilizing his height and length to create chances for very short paint jumpers: pic.twitter.com/FriRwJjenM

— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) December 20, 2024

"The one thing about the two-feet thing for him, even if he's still a little bottled up, he seems to get a little separation," Nurse said. "He's even starting to get a little clearance back on some of those and making some of those in the lane. It's just been a much higher percentage play for not only him, but for the team all around.

Being able to leverage the threat of his pull-up jumper has made Oubre a more efficient driver as well. But it has also generated a path for him to become an occasional playmaker. Oubre will never rack up assists, but he used to provide zero creation for others. Now, it is there in spurts with plays like this:

Kelly Oubre Jr. remains composed and in control on a short roll. Instead of putting his head down and attacking with reckless abandon, he keeps his eyes up and finds Tyrese Maxey on the wing: pic.twitter.com/hkhC31YqU7

— Adam Aaronson's clips (@SixersAdamClips) March 7, 2025

Nurse said Oubre's newfound mentality "keeps him on balance," in turn providing him with the opportunity to "fire some [passes] out." Nurse's evaluation passes the eye test; Oubre's composure on drives has gone from rarely existent at all to notably stable.

The statistical differences are stark, too. Before his benching, Oubre was playing as if his strong 2023-24 campaign was an aberration. Since returning to the starting five, he has given the Sixers exactly what they have needed:

"I think it sunk into him pretty quickly," Nurse said, "and he put the time in away from the games, before practice, after practice, all those kind of things, and was able to take it and then have some success with it and make a fairly quick change, to be honest."

The gravity of this change — particularly that Oubre was able to successfully alter one of the most significant pillars of his play-style in the middle of the season — is not lost on Nurse, and it is not lost on Oubre.

"It takes some work, it takes some reps, it takes some film prep," Nurse said. "And then obviously it's a thing that'll be a little difficult again when your habits are kind of that or you've been doing stuff for a long time, changing. Some of those things are like any habit. It takes a minute.

Oubre acknowledged at first that his benching was a catalyst for an increased appetite to change things up. But despite his stubborn nature, Oubre acknowledged the importance of being willing to find ways to get better.

"At the end of the day, man, it’s about evolution and trying to be the best basketball player that I could possibly be before it’s all said and done," Oubre said. "So I think that’s another step into it."

MORE: Undermanned Sixers fall to Celtics despite Oubre's 26 points

A regular part of Oubre's vernacular is the phrase "be water," which he uses to stress the importance of going with the flow and doing whatever is necessary. After the team's very first game of the season, Oubre was asked about continually scaling his offensive role up and down.

"Shoutout to Bruce Lee," Oubre said after the team's opening game in October, before taking a long pause. "I just try to be water, bro. Whatever I'm asked [to do], whatever I need to do that night, I will do it."

Oubre's played his strong first season with the Sixers in 2023-24 on a veteran's minimum contract. He eclipsed 20 points per game in the prior season for the lowly Charlotte Hornets, but had next to no interest on the open market. The message from the NBA was loud and clear: most teams did not believe Oubre could produce in a manner which contributed to winning. So he took a deal with the Sixers right before training camp and bet that he could prove he is capable of doing just that. Oubre succeeded, posting the best defensive season of his career and willingly watching his offensive workload fluctuate based on the availability of other players. He created a market for himself.

With the vast majority of the Sixers' financial resources this past summer going toward Paul George's max contract, they were able to offer Oubre about $8 million per year. He claimed after returning to the team that he had declined superior financial offers to come back, inking a two-year deal containing a second-year player option so that if he posted another strong year he could finally command the sort of long-term contract he was seeking.

Now, Oubre is setting himself up to secure that lengthy deal, whether it keeps him in Philadelphia for years to come or paves the way for him to find a new home.

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The 2024-25 season has been cataclysmic for the Sixers. From all of the controversy surrounding Joel Embiid leading up to his season ending, to George being a major disappointment to the team likely pivoting to a focus on its top-six protected first-round pick. Perhaps the most frustrating subplot for many fans has been the on-court effort and energy. Perhaps more than any other player, the finger cannot be pointed at Oubre in that department.

Not only does Oubre lead the Sixers in total minutes played in a season in which nearly every other player has had at least one extended absence, but he has provided unrelenting effort and determination during those minutes. Like any overzealous basketball player, sometimes that turns into an ill-advised gamble or a game with foul trouble. But it has been refreshing to watch Oubre find the best version of himself stylistically and in terms of spirit.

Without those uncomfortable conversations with Nurse in November, it might not have happened this way.

"I’m not going to tell you what we said, what he said, what was said, but that synergy and that relationship, it was grown in that time," Oubre said. "And you know, I think my biggest thing I told him — I would tell you that — is 'I’m just trying to gain your trust.' So hopefully I’m doing that."

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