January 14, 2026
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Dominick Barlow took a hard and painful fall on Wednesday night, leaving the game with a back contusion.
PHILADELPHIA – The Sixers are going to be able to sleep in their own beds for a while, but they might not sleep all that well on Wednesday night. For Dominick Barlow, who raved about the physical and mental benefits of being at home after the team's morning shootaround, that can be taken in the most literal sense.
After completing a three-game road trip with Monday's emphatic win over the Toronto Raptors, nine of the next 10 games on the Sixers' schedule – including the next six in a row – are at home. But with a chance to make another strong statement about their standing within the hierarchy of the Eastern Conference, the Sixers came out flat and fell 133-107 to the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first of two consecutive matchups.
The Sixers played their worst first quarter of the season – Cleveland outscored them 33-18, pummeled them on the glass and had them looking totally out of sorts on both ends of the floor – and they never made serious inroads on the deficit. Nobody on the Sixers played particularly well, with Joel Embiid experiencing turnover issues, Tyrese Maxey struggling with efficiency and the entire operation crumbling beneath those two. The Sixers lost Barlow due to a back injury and the most encouraging part of their miserable season last year continues to flounder.
Takeaways from a disappointing night for the Sixers:
Dominick Barlow, 22, has been one of the best stories of the 2025-26 Sixers season to date. Signed to a two-way contract in July despite three years of NBA experience, Barlow immediately made his presence felt, prompting Sixers head coach Nick Nurse to identify him to reporters as a standout performer just one day into official team activities. Barlow's blend of size, athleticism and feel has made him a tremendously valuable player, almost inarguably the best two-way player in the entire league this season. Barlow has been a force on the offensive glass, but also gives the Sixers physical defense and terrific transition play on both ends of the floor.
Early in the second half of Wednesday's game, Barlow went down, taking a hard fall on his back which clearly caused significant pain:
Dominick Barlow was helped back to the Sixers locker room after he took a hard fall after being blocked by Evan Mobley.
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) January 15, 2026
Prayers up to Dom 🙏pic.twitter.com/24CJTk9QLX
Barlow, who was ruled out for the remainder of the game with a back contusion, has started in 26 of his 29 appearances this season, including each of his last 22 games played. He has been not just a godsend but a staple, someone the Sixers have needed in order to piece together 48 quality minutes of play at power forward.
If Barlow misses time, the ramifications would be multi-dimensional. Nurse has been trying to pick and choose spots for both Jabari Walker and Trendon Watford of late; if Barlow is sidelined he will need both of those guys on a nightly basis. Paul George playing up at power forward would happen with more regularity and the same might even be true for Kelly Oubre Jr., who thrived there early in the season when George was sidelined.
But the Sixers were also tracking to have important roster decisions to make after this stretch of home games, when they would either need to convert one of Barlow or Walker or temporarily fill their vacant roster spot with a 10-day contract. If Barlow misses time, the Sixers can kick that can down the road for a little while longer. It could eliminate the need for a 10-day deal for a while.
For the second game in a row, Jared McCain did not enter the game until midway through the second quarter – an addendum to Nurse's rotation more than a feature – and struggled in limited action. McCain only played for about three minutes upon checking in. He missed his only shot attempt, and it might have been the only time he touched the ball over the court of the entire stint. McCain did not return until the Cavaliers had put the game away.
For about six weeks, McCain has not produced like anything resembling an NBA rotation player. It is a longer stretch of struggles than the one he experienced upon returning to the Sixers after about 11 months on the shelf, and perhaps a more problematic stretch. To his credit, Nurse was disciplined for many weeks: McCain, who showed how dynamic of an offensive player he can be during a shortened rookie season, needed elongated stretches of action to improve, and Nurse always found ways to fit him into lineups.
But in recent games, McCain's minutes have dwindled quite a bit, to the point that his brief cameos feel forced. When he is in the game the Sixers do not run anything for the 21-year-old; his ability to shoot on the move is not utilized and whenever the ball happens to find him he forces the issue. To be fair to Nurse, it is not as if McCain's three-point shooting has been valuable this season. There is no doubt he has the touch and accuracy from long range to be a high-caliber sniper in the NBA, but at some point the shots have to go in.
Now, McCain and the Sixers are at the same crossroads they reached earlier in the season. The current arrangement – McCain playing a few spot minutes – does not help his development, and it does not help the Sixers win games. (At this point, it is fair to ask exactly how long of a runway McCain actually needs to get to find himself again; his season debut was more than two months ago.)
What is the solution? There is no foolproof plan for a situation like this, but McCain gave a positive review of his two-game stint in the G League with the Delaware Blue Coats. At some point a chance to play low-pressure basketball there might be the best option for him, even if it does not provide much physical benefit. McCain carries himself with an unwavering self-belief, but it might still provide some sort of confidence boost if he sees some shots go in.
Some additional notes:
• Walker has played over Watford lately, but when Walker missed a corner triple early on in his opening stint Nurse decided to pull him for Watford in hopes of finding some offensive juice. Watford did not do much that registered in the box score outside of knocking down a three-point shot, but he did play with some pace and tempo. Once Barlow went out, Walker came into the game and played with tremendous energy. Watford's unique offensive skills make him a much higher-upside piece than Walker, but Walker is perhaps a more reliable piece whose availability is running out before the Sixers have to decide whether or not they want to convert him to a standard contract.
• As expected, the momentum Adem Bona created in his constant battle for minutes with Andre Drummond during the Sixers' two games in Toronto netted him the backup center spot on Wednesday. As soon as Bona was part of a disappointing stretch late in the third quarter, Nurse made the call to go back to the veteran Drummond. There might never be a surefire answer to the question of who the Sixers' primary backup center is.
• Embiid reached 13,000 points for his career with this early triple:
Joel Embiid with an early 3 to start his evening vs. Cavs pic.twitter.com/gpvMWQcB0e
— Liberty Ballers (@Liberty_Ballers) January 15, 2026
The Sixers said Embiid is the seventh player to score 13,000 points as a member of the franchise.
Up next: These two teams will face off once again on Friday night.
