ESPN: I just need time for myself, a former Kansas star reject a new NBA contract with the Philadelphia 76ers.
Paul George, a nine-time NBA All-Star, wasn’t the only wing to sign a multiyear deal with the Philadelphia 76ers this week. According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, former Kansas wing Kelly Oubre Jr. has agreed to a two-year, $16.3 million contract (with a player option for 2025–26) with the Sixers. Oubre Jr. was paid $2.8 million on a one-year NBA minimum contract with Philadelphia during the 2023–24 season.
That agreement was reached not long before George signed a four-year, $212 maximum contract with the Sixers. In 67 games (including 51 starts) last season, Oubre, a 28-year-old nine-year NBA veteran who has played for five clubs, averaged 15.5 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. He made 31.2% of his threes and nailed 44.2% of his total shots. He is expected to start for the Sixers with Tyrese Maxey, Joel Embiid, and George, the former KU freshman standout. Wojnarowski of ESPN also revealed this week that Maxey and the Sixers have reached an agreement on a $204 million, five-year contract deal.
The year before the Sixers’ training camp opened, Oubre inked a contract with them. He was coming off a stellar 2022–2023 campaign in which he averaged 20.3 points per game while playing for the Charlotte Hornets. “It’s evident that putting up 20 points against a losing team like the Hornets doesn’t benefit you,” Oubre, who played just one season at KU in 2014–15, said in an April interview with bleacherreport.com. But in the end, it all comes down to being a part of a winning team and being able to contribute.
“At the end of the day, I want to go somewhere where they respect and they love me,” Oubre said to libertyballers.com following the Sixers’ NBA playoff elimination at the hands of the Knicks. Naturally, there has only been love in this place. Therefore, I feel like there are still a lot of things to do and unresolved business at the end of the day.
He stated to Yahoo Sports in March that he is still developing as a player. “I’m a good on-ball defender a lot of the time, but where I fall short is helping and being off the best players on the other team,” Oubre admitted. I’m making an effort to stay focused and support my guys at all costs. I’ll help if someone gets beaten up. Coach Nick Nurse has been referred to by Oubre as “the best coach I’ve played for, straight up.”
Following a first-round playoff loss to the Knicks, Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey described Oubre as “such a breath of fresh air” in a press conference. Kelly “played so hard, won over the city — which isn’t easy,” Yahoo Sports reported Morey as saying. “We definitely have interest in him because he provided us with really important minutes both in the regular season and the playoffs.” Prior to joining the Philadelphia 76ers, Oubre, the No. 15 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, played for the Phoenix Suns, Golden State Warriors, and Charlotte Hornets after spending the first three plus seasons of his career in Washington.
