76ers Reveal De’Anthony Melton Suffered Another Injury Setback

De'Anthony Melton is out again.

It turns out that Philadelphia 76ers guard De’Anthony Melton is not quite in the clear regarding his back injury.

Since early January, Melton has been dealing with a setback, which kept him off the floor for most of 2024 so far.

Despite returning to the Sixers’ bench recently, the team’s head coach, Nick Nurse, revealed that Melton will be downgraded to out once again on Friday night when the Sixers host the Charlotte Hornets at the Wells Fargo Center, according to The Inquirer’s Gina Mizell.

Melton’s back issues kept him off the floor for the Sixers’ first three games in January. He returned to take on the Atlanta Hawks on January 10. Melton’s return to the court would last just matchups before he went inactive again. From then on, his absence spanned multiple weeks.

On February 23, the Sixers upgraded Melton to questionable ahead of their matchup against the Cleveland Cavaliers. Eventually, it was revealed Melton would play for the first time after missing the team’s previous 18 games. 

Although he started in his first 33 appearances of the season, Melton came off the bench for 16 minutes against the Cavs last week. When the Sixers hosted the Milwaukee Bucks in the following game, Melton continued his role as a reserve, with a slight increase in minutes.

Unfortunately, there was a setback on Tuesday night. As the Sixers paid a visit to the Boston Celtics, Melton played fewer than ten minutes off the bench. As he experienced back spasms during the outing, the Sixers shut him down early.

Now, Melton’s set to miss his 23rd game of the year on Friday against the Hornets. Since the Sixers couldn’t put a possible timeline on his return, he’ll be viewed as day-to-day until there is further clarity on his recent setback.