Atlantic Notes: Embiid, Walker, Shamet, Knicks, Raptors
After missing the Sixers‘ last two games prior to the All-Star break due to right knee soreness, center Joel Embiid will remain inactive vs. Atlanta on Thursday, tweets Tim Bontemps of ESPN. While “right knee injury management” is still one of the designations for Embiid on Philadelphia’s injury report, he also experienced some right shin soreness during the All-Star break, according to the team.
Embiid will be reevaluated ahead of the Sixers’ back-to-back set in New Orleans and Minnesota on Saturday and Sunday, so it’s possible he won’t be facing an extended absence. Still, the fact that the big man is out again following a promising stretch in which he appeared in 18 of Philadelphia’s 22 games is a reminder that his health remains a question mark hanging over the club as the second half tips off, writes Tony Jones of The Athletic.
For what it’s worth, head coach Nick Nurse didn’t sound overly concerned when he discussed Embiid’s health after the former MVP took part in Wednesday’s practice.
“He was out there and he looked pretty good,” Nurse said before the 76ers ruled Embiid out for Thursday’s game. “He’s got a meeting shortly with the doctors, and I think we’ll know a little bit more about where he is. But, he was out there a little bit today, and he looked pretty good.”
Here’s more from around the Atlantic:
- Jabari Walker‘s new two-year, minimum-salary contract with the Sixers is partially guaranteed for $250K in 2026/27, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Walker was officially promoted from his two-way deal to Philadelphia’s 15-man roster earlier today.
- Has Landry Shamet been the NBA’s best minimum-salary signing this season? James L. Edwards III of The Athletic suggests that players like Celtics center Neemias Queta and Raptors big man Sandro Mamukelashvili are also in that conversation, but presents the case for the Knicks guard, who has averaged a career-high 9.6 points per game while making 42.2% of his three-pointers.
- James Dolan, the CEO of Madison Square Garden Sports – the parent company of the Knicks and the NHL’s New York Rangers – stated on Wednesday that the company is considering splitting up the two franchises into separate publicly traded companies, per Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. A source tells Taylor Herzlich of The New York Post that the possibility of separating the two teams isn’t related to a desire to sell either franchise or to take the companies private.
- Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca considers five factors that could determine the Raptors‘ fate for the rest of the season, starting with the health of center Jakob Poeltl, who has been bothered by back issues all year. The trade sending out Ochai Agbaji earlier this month also means there should be more opportunities available for Toronto’s young wings in the coming weeks, Grange notes.
Sixers Sign Jabari Walker To Two-Year Deal
February 19: Walker’s promotion to the standard roster is official, the Sixers announced today in a press release.
February 16: The Sixers are signing forward Jabari Walker to a two-year deal, Shams Charania reports for ESPN (via Twitter).
Earlier this month, Walker became the first player on a two-way contract to reach his 50-game active game limit, which forced him to miss Philadelphia’s last four games heading into the All-Star break.
By trading Jared McCain for a draft pick and Eric Gordon for the draft rights to Justinian Jessup, the Sixers opened up spots to convert both Walker and Dominick Barlow to standard contracts. Barlow signed a two-year deal with a team option on February 5.
After spending his first three seasons with the Blazers, Walker joined the Sixers on a two-way contract and quickly won a bench role in coach Nick Nurse‘s rotation.
Still just 23 years old, Walker brings defensive versatility and intensity on the wing, though he has struggled with his shot, hitting just 27.0% of his threes this season.
The Sixers are also signing veteran point guard Cameron Payne to their 15-man roster. He and Walker will fill Philadelphia’s 14th and 15th roster spots, but the team will have enough room below the luxury tax line after finalizing those contracts to make another roster move at the end of the season if necessary, notes Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (via Twitter).
Blazers’ Cissoko Latest Two-Way Player To Reach Active Game Limit
Several teams will head into the NBA’s All-Star break with roster decisions to make before their schedules resume next week. One of those teams in the Trail Blazers, who deployed two-way player Sidy Cissoko for his 50th game of the season on Thursday in Utah.
Cissoko, who made his 24th start of the season and played 30 minutes in Portland’s win over the Jazz, has now reached the active game limit for two-way players and will no longer be able to suit up for the NBA team unless he’s promoted from his two-way contract to the Blazers’ standard 15-man roster.
Cissoko is one of several players in that boat, along with Nuggets forward Spencer Jones, Timberwolves guard Johnny Juzang, and Sixers forward Jabari Walker. All four two-way players have been active for 50 NBA games this season.
Cissoko and Jones have emerged as key contributors for their respective teams and will likely be promoted to standard contracts sooner rather than later. The Nuggets might have taken that route with Jones already if not for the concussion that sidelined him for the final three games before the All-Star break, which allowed the team to put off an official roster move for an extra couple weeks.
Denver has two openings on its 15-man roster, so no corresponding move will be necessary to promote Jones, making the club’s decision even more straightforward.
That’s not the case in Portland though, where one of the team’s 15 players currently holding standard contracts will need to be cut if the Blazers want to promote Cissoko. If the team decides to convert both Cissoko and its other standout two-way player, Caleb Love (who is at 45 active games), two cuts would be required. Rayan Rupert and Matisse Thybulle have been mentioned as possible odd men out, but that’s not necessarily a given.
There’s less urgency for certain other teams whose two-way players have reached – or are fast approaching – their active game limits. For instance, while Juzang has been active for 50 games this season, he only actually saw the floor in 21 of them — he was a DNP-CD in the other 29. As such, it’s perhaps no surprise that the Wolves haven’t rushed to promote him to the standard roster. Juzang was on the inactive list for Minnesota’s last three games prior to the All-Star break.
Rockets two-way guard JD Davison is another player nearing his 50-game limit (he has five games left), but like Juzang, he hasn’t been a crucial part of his team’s rotation when he’s active. Davison has appeared in 24 games and been a DNP-CD in 21 others. With that in mind, Houston may not be in a rush to move him to the 15-man roster when he gets to his game limit.
It’s also worth noting that promoting a two-way player or leaving him in limbo aren’t the only two options a team has at its disposal after he reaches his active game limit. When two-way player Chris Youngblood found himself in that situation last week, the Thunder decided to waive him, recognizing that there was no room for him on their 15-man roster and wanting to give him the chance to explore other opportunities before the end of the season.
Mavericks guard Ryan Nembhard (six games left) and center Moussa Cisse (eight games left), Wizards big man Tristan Vukcevic (nine games left), Pelicans guard Bryce McGowens (nine games left), and Suns guard Jamaree Bouyea (10 games left) are among the other notable two-way players whose teams will have roster decisions to make in the coming weeks.
The full list of players who have already been converted from two-way deals to standard contracts can be found here.
Sixers Hope To Be Active On Buyout Market
The Sixers are in position to add two players on the buyout market, with Chris Boucher, Lonzo Ball and Haywood Highsmith among the potential targets, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required). Pompey cites Khris Middleton as another possibility if he agrees to a buyout with the Mavericks.
Philadelphia currently has two players holding 10-day contracts, with Charles Bassey on his second and Patrick Baldwin Jr. on his first. Both will expire during All-Star weekend, giving the team two open roster spots.
In addition, Paul George has already served five games of his 25-game suspension for taking a banned substance, so he can be moved to the suspended list, allowing the Sixers to add another player until he returns in late March.
However, finances will factor into the decisions. Philadelphia is currently $1.57MM below the tax line and $3.75MM away from the first apron. The team can add two rest-of-season minimum-salary contracts without moving into tax territory, according to Pompey.
Boucher and Ball were both traded to Utah on Thursday and waived by the end of the day. Boucher, a 33-year-old big man, appeared in just nine games with Boston before being dealt. He spent five seasons playing for Sixers head coach Nick Nurse in Toronto.
Ball, a 28-year-old guard, played 35 games for Cleveland this season, mostly in a reserve role. Pompey notes that he could provide backcourt depth after Jared McCain and Eric Gordon were both traded last week.
Highsmith, a 29-year-old forward, was waived by Brooklyn to open up a roster spot for a three-team deal. He hasn’t played yet this season after undergoing surgery on a torn meniscus in August, but he’s nearing a recovery and is attracting interest from several playoff teams. Pompey points out that Highsmith began his career as a two-way player with the Sixers in 2019.
Middleton, who was sent from Washington to Dallas in the Anthony Davis trade, is the biggest name on the list. There’s been speculation that the 34-year-old swingman may become available, but there have been no reported buyout talks and he plans to make his Mavericks debut Tuesday night.
The Sixers could fill one of their open spots by promoting forward Jabari Walker to a standard contract, Pompey adds. Walker reached his 50-game limit on a two-way contract last week and has been inactive for the team’s last two contests.
“He’s been a tremendous next man up type contributor,” president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said of Walker. “We hope to have his services going forward, but we do have to weigh optimal use of our sort of scarce two roster spots, and against the other opportunities as well. So that’ll be written over time, whether or not we do that conversion there.”
Sixers Notes: McCain Trade, Draft Assets, Roster Spots, Barlow
Despite exceeding expectations so far this season and holding a top-six spot in the Eastern Conference playoff race at 29-22, the Sixers were sellers at the trade deadline, sending second-year guard Jared McCain to Oklahoma City in exchange for a 2026 first-round pick and three future second-rounders.
Speaking today to reporters, Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey explained that the team remained active after agreeing to terms on that McCain deal in the hopes of adding win-now help.
“Because we’re playing well, we were trying to upgrade the team and add to the team now. That was goal number one,” Morey said, per Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice. “Obviously, no deal materialized, including using the picks we got from the Jared deal. We were trying to.
“That’s why we did that move a little early (in the week). We were trying to reuse those draft picks to add now. … The picks we got were offered to many teams, and nothing materialized for a player that we thought could move the needle with those picks now. But we feel like going forward, those picks will help us build the team in the future in a good way.”
McCain got off to an excellent start as a rookie in 2024/25 but underwent season-ending knee surgery and then had his 2025/26 debut delayed due to a procedure on his thumb. Despite the stop-and-start nature of his NBA career so far, the Thunder were willing to give up the sort of package for him that Morey felt he couldn’t turn down.
“I am quite confident we were selling high,” Morey said. “… And (we) weren’t looking to sell, I’ll be frank. Like, teams came to us with aggressive offers for him, and you could say, ‘Yeah, that’s ’cause he’s a good player.’ I agree with that. We thought this return was above, for the future value for our franchise, what we could get.
“… That return is for a starter quality player on a good team. That is – it’s actually above that. We do a lot of analysis on how we think things will play out, both here and around the league going forward in terms of the quality of play, what kinds of returns will return, what players in the future. And the bottom line is, Jared’s a player who is a great future bet and a potential great player, and we wish him luck. We feel like this return sets us up better to set up the team in the future better.”
Here’s more from Morey on the Sixers, via Aaronson:
- The fact that that the first-round pick Philadelphia acquired in the McCain deal will be in a 2026 draft considered to be loaded with talent wasn’t a determining factor in the Sixers pulling the trigger, according to Morey. “We’re not necessarily using the pick in this draft,” he said. “It could be used for moves around the draft. The three seconds that we got with it, we think could be used to move up in this draft. I and our front office have done a lot of deals over the years, and this just gives us more tools to make the moves that we think will help our future.”
- After ducking the luxury tax for a third straight trade deadline, Morey said he understands criticisms about the team’s approach to that tax threshold. However, he pointed out that the Sixers’ current ownership group has paid tax penalties in the past and would do so again if he identified an opportunity that warranted it. “I understand the perception, and I’d hoped to defeat it by finding a deal that I can go to ownership and say, ‘We think this move is the right move to do for that and create the apron issues that it would create,'” Morey said. “But I haven’t been able to recommend that move yet.”
- The Sixers have a full 15-man roster for the time being, but two of those spots are occupied by players on 10-day deals. Asked about how Philadelphia could eventually fill them, Morey mentioned a guard and a wing, but said the team will focus on adding the best player available. A Jabari Walker promotion from his two-way deal also remains a possibility, per Morey, who added that the team expects to be in on players on the buyout market as well. “I think we’re in the mix (for buyout players),” he said. “I think they see a really good team or a really good market. We’ve had a lot of conversations already. We’re obviously in competition with other teams, so I don’t know if we’ll get the first option necessarily, but we’ll be in there with getting some of the top options.”
- While Walker remains on his two-way deal, ineligible to suit up unless he’s converted to a standard contract, the Sixers’ other two-way standout, Dominick Barlow, was officially promoted to the 15-man roster on Thursday. According to Bobby Marks of Sports Business Classroom, Barlow was signed using a portion of Philadelphia’s taxpayer mid-level exception and will earn $3.4MM for the rest of this season, with a $3.4MM team option for 2026/27. Morey said on Friday that the 76ers would have liked to do a longer-term deal and aren’t ruling out the possibility of working out another multiyear contract with Barlow in the summer rather than picking up his option.
Sixers Promote Dominick Barlow To Standard Contract
The Sixers have promoted forward Dominick Barlow from his two-way deal to a standard contract ahead of their game against the Lakers in Los Angeles on Thursday night, according to Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice (Twitter link). The team has formally announced the move in a press release.
Tony Jones of The Athletic (Twitter links) first reported that the Sixers and Barlow were headed toward an agreement on a multiyear deal, and Aaronson confirms it’s a two-year contract with a team option for 2026/27.
Barlow, 22, signed a two-way contract with Philadelphia last summer after appearing in 96 games across three seasons for San Antonio and Atlanta. He quickly emerged as a key part of the Sixers’ rotation and has since become the team’s starting power forward.
In 40 games (33 starts) for the 76ers so far this season, Barlow has averaged 8.4 points, 5.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, and 1.0 steal in 24.0 minutes per contest. He’s shooting a career-high 55.0% from the floor and 80.0% from the free throw line.
Barlow was still eligible to appear in up to 10 more games while on his two-way contract, but he wouldn’t have been permitted to play if the Sixers were carrying fewer than 15 players on their standard roster. Even after signing Charles Bassey and Patrick Baldwin Jr. to 10-day deals on Thursday, Philadelphia was still at 14 players, so Barlow will fill the final spot on the roster and will no longer face an active game limit.
That means there’s no room on the roster at this point for another two-way standout, forward Jabari Walker. He has reached his 50-game limit and won’t be eligible to suit up for the Sixers unless he’s converted to a standard deal. However, the team can activate its other two-way player, MarJon Beauchamp, and will do so for Thursday’s game, tweets Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports.
According to Derek Bodner of PHLY Sports (Twitter link), Barlow’s team option for next season is worth $3.4MM, which suggests the team is using its mid-level exception to go above the veteran’s minimum in order to sign the forward.
Sixers’ Walker First Two-Way Player To Reach Active Game Limit
The Sixers played their 50th game of the season on Tuesday in Golden State and forward Jabari Walker has been active for all 50 of them, making him the first player on a two-way contract to reach his active game limit this season.
A player on a two-way deal is ineligible to be active for more than 50 regular season games (or a prorated portion of that 50-game limit, if he signs after the season has begun). That means Walker will have to be promoted to a standard contract if Philadelphia wants to continue playing him.
The 76ers may have cleared a path for Walker to get a spot on the 15-man roster when they agreed to trade Jared McCain to Oklahoma City earlier today. That move moved Philadelphia below the luxury tax line by about $3MM, tweets ESPN’s Bobby Marks, which gives the team more than enough flexibility to sign Walker to a standard deal without going back into the tax.
The Sixers will probably wait until after the trade deadline to officially promote Walker to ensure they don’t need that open roster spot for a separate deal, but it seems likely it will just be a matter of time before he gets his promotion. Philadelphia also seems likely to convert another two-way standout, Dominick Barlow, to a standard contract in the coming weeks, but that’s not as pressing a concern, since Barlow still has 10 games before he reaches his own limit.
Still, the 76ers would have to maintain a full 15-man roster in order to continue using Barlow, since they’ve hit their “under-15” limit for two-way players — teams can only use their two-way players for a combined total of 90 games while they’re carrying fewer than 15 players on standard contracts. Philadelphia, which has been carrying just 14 players for most of the season, recently reached that 90-game limit.
Even if they promote Walker, the Sixers will likely dip back below 15 players, since Charles Bassey‘s 10-day contract expires on Thursday, so it may make sense for the club to just promote both its two-way standouts sooner rather than later.
While we wait to see what the Sixers’ plan is, it’s worth noting that several other two-way players are just one game away from reaching the limit of 50 active games and will need to be converted to standard deals soon if their teams want to keep using them.
Spencer Jones of the Nuggets, Daniss Jenkins of the Pistons, Pat Spencer of the Warriors, and Chris Youngblood of the Thunder are each at 49 active games entering Wednesday’s action, tweets Marks.
Spencer Jones Among Two-Way Players Nearing Active-Game Limit
Second-year forward Spencer Jones has emerged as a key part of the Nuggets‘ rotation this season, starting 31 games and averaging 23.5 minutes per night for the Western Conference’s No. 3 team. However, Jones’ two-way contract only allows him to be eligible for up to 50 regular season games and he’s just three away from that limit — he has appeared in 43 contests and was a DNP-CD in four more early in the season.
While the Nuggets have let Jones and his representatives know that they want to promote him to the standard roster, the 24-year-old is also aware he may run out of games before that happens, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (subscription required).
“You want to figure out, where you’ve got a championship push, everything you need to make that push. So yeah, I always knew the decision wasn’t going to be until the (trade) deadline, (that it) won’t be decided until around then,” Jones said. “I may run out of games before then. So they’ve mentioned the possibility of sitting out one or two just ’cause. So we’ll see how it pans out.”
Denver has an open spot on its 15-man roster, so the front office could convert Jones’ contract today without making a corresponding move. However, the Nuggets will likely want to hold that spot open for a few more days to maximize their roster flexibility at the trade deadline.
The Nuggets are also operating above the luxury tax line by about $400K and have reportedly made it a priority to finish this season as a non-taxpayer. That means Jones might have to wait for his promotion until after Denver makes a move to shed a little salary.
If they were to trade one of their lowest-paid players without taking back any salary, the Nuggets could sign Jones and remain below the tax line due to the gap between a full-season and prorated salary. For instance, Hunter Tyson‘s deal features a $2,221,677 cap hit, whereas a minimum-salary contract for Jones would count for just $871K as of February 6 (Denver could also use a portion of its mid-level exception to sign Jones for more than the minimum).
“Whatever happens with Spence, he’ll be fine. What he’s done and what he’s put on tape is a professional basketball player that belongs in a rotation,” head coach David Adelman said. “And he’s earned it. … We’ll figure it out. What that means, I don’t know. And those are Ben (Tenzer) and Jon (Wallace) questions; we’ll have that conversation with them. But we’ll do the best we can do for (Jones) and for the whole roster as we go forward.”
As Durando points out (via Twitter), Jones got a bit of a reprieve when the Nuggets had a game postponed last Sunday and rescheduled for March. But Denver still plays four times between now and next Thursday’s deadline, so if the club isn’t ready to promote Jones until after the deadline, he’ll have to sit out one of those four contests.
There are several other two-way players around the NBA who are nearing their active game limits. Here are the players who are within 10 of the limit, with the number of games they have remaining noted in parentheses:
- Chris Youngblood, Thunder (2)
- Pat Spencer, Warriors (3)
- Jabari Walker, Sixers (3)
- Note: The Sixers have reached their limit of 90 “under-15” two-way games and must maintain a full 15-man standard roster to use their two-way players.
- Daniss Jenkins, Pistons (4)
- Johnny Juzang, Timberwolves (4)
- Nae’Qwan Tomlin, Cavaliers (5)
- Sidy Cissoko, Trail Blazers (7)
- JD Davison, Rockets (8)
- Ryan Nembhard, Mavericks (9)
- Caleb Love, Trail Blazers (10)
- Kobe Sanders, Clippers (10)
Sixers Sign Charles Bassey To 10-Day Contract
JANUARY 26: Bassey’s signing is official, the Sixers announced (via Twitter).
JANUARY 24: Charles Bassey will sign a 10-day contract with the Sixers, sources tell Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
The move will give Philadelphia 15 players on standard contracts and will enable the team to continue using two-way players Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker. Both were on the active roster for Saturday’s game against New York, bringing the Sixers to their 90-game “under-15” limit for the season.
Although a player on a two-way contract can be active for up to 50 regular season games, teams can’t use their two-way players for more than 90 combined games if they’re carrying fewer than 15 players on standard contracts.
If Bassey signs on Monday, Barlow and Walker can continue playing on two-way deals through February 4, which takes them to the eve of the trade deadline. In that scenario, Bassey’s 10-day contract would cover the team’s next six games.
Sources tell Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (Twitter link) that the Sixers are trying to get Bassey to Charlotte so he can sign his contract before Monday night’s game. A massive storm that’s covering much of the United States is complicating travel plans.
Bassey, a 25-year-old center, is averaging 19 points and 11 rebounds per game with Santa Cruz in the G League. Following an outstanding Summer League performance with Boston, he signed an Exhibit 10 deal with Atlanta in September. The Hawks waived Bassey prior to the start of the season, and he inked a 10-day hardship contract with Memphis in late October. He appeared in two games during that time, but was let go when the contract expired.
This will be Bassey’s second stint with the Sixers, who selected him with the 53rd pick in the 2021 draft. He was released after playing 23 games as a rookie and spent the next three seasons in San Antonio.
Sixers Notes: Embiid, Oubre, Barlow, Walker, Grimes
Joel Embiid continues to round back into form for the Sixers, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN, who notes that the 46 minutes the former MVP played in Thursday’s overtime win over Houston represented his highest single-game regular season total in over three years.
Embiid made the most of those 46 minutes, racking up 32 points, 15 rebounds, and 10 assists, en route to a 128-22 victory. Philadelphia outscored the Rockets by 21 points when he was on the court.
“It’s certainly a pretty big step forward, I think, for sure,” head coach Nick Nurse said after the game.
Knee problems have been a recurring issue for Embiid in recent years — he didn’t look fully comfortable on the court during the 19 games he played in 2024/25 or at the start of this season. However, in his past 15 outings, the veteran center is averaging 28.3 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 3.9 assists per game. Sixers forward Paul George, who has dealt with several injuries of his own, is happy to see his teammate looking more like his old self.
“He’s starting to feel it, he’s getting better and that competitive juice and everything is starting to flow,” George said. “You see it even with him at practice, and so you can see he was coming back, he was starting to form back into the Joel Embiid that we all have seen him dominate in this league. It’s definitely refreshing just from a personal level, dealing with injuries and how that takes a toll on you. It’s just always great to see someone start to get back to themselves.”
We have more on the 76ers:
- Sixers forward Kelly Oubre Jr. is on an expiring contract, which makes him a potential trade candidate at the deadline, but he’s making a strong case with his recent play for the team to hang onto him, writes Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscription required). Since rejoining the starting lineup on Monday, Oubre has averaged 21.7 PPG on .558/.611/.545 shooting in his past three games.
- Oubre was initially reinserted into the starting five in place of George, who missed a couple games due to left knee injury management. However, he remained in the lineup on Thursday with George active, as Nurse moved forward Dominick Barlow to the second unit. “I think Barlow has played outstanding and played outstanding again tonight,” Nurse said after the game. “But Kelly obviously has been a pretty big spark plug, getting to the rim and just guarding. Just guarding really good, tough matchup every night as well. So I went that way. He’s pretty experienced as well.”
- Speaking of Barlow, he and fellow two-way player Jabari Walker were active again on Thursday, increasing the Sixers’ total “under-15” two-way games to 88, two away from the 90-game limit. In order to continue using both Barlow and Walker beyond Saturday, Philadelphia will have to either promote one of them to its 15-man roster or sign someone else to fill that 15th roster spot. Although a player on a two-way contract can be active for up to 50 regular season games, teams can’t use their two-way players for more than 90 combined games if they’re carrying fewer than 15 players on standard contracts.
- After averaging 17.0 PPG and 4.4 APG on .456/.381/.854 shooting in his first 21 games this season, Quentin Grimes is down to 9.8 PPG and 3.0 APG on .396/.317/.875 shooting in his past 20. Nurse said he wants to see Grimes “attack the rim” more and stressed that the swingman has the green light to fire away from beyond the arc. The Sixers’ coach added that tweaking Grimes’ role has also been considered. “I think we really thought that he was a much better player off the bench, that he liked to see the game a little bit and come in and play,” Nurse said. “And I think we’re having some discussions lately, that maybe that’s not the case, and maybe we’ll start sticking him back into the starting lineup a little bit to see if that helps.”