PHILADELPHIA — Nicolas Batum is back with the Philadelphia 76ers after tending to a personal matter. The veteran forward was included in the trade that sent James Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers but then almost immediately left the team to tend to a family matter.
Batum stepped away from the team for roughly four days, returning yesterday. At the Sixers' morning shootaround ahead of their matchup against the Washington Wizards, he and the rest of the Sixers' newcomers — Robert Covington, K.J. Martin and Marcus Morris Sr. — ran through plays. Assistant coach Bobby Jackson directed them on where to screen and cut to as they got some light work in before their next game.
Nicolas Batum running through plays with the other new Sixers and Jaden Springer at pregame shootaround pic.twitter.com/2xEtaQr2Vz
— Sam DiGiovanni (@BySamDiGiovanni) November 6, 2023
“I'm trying to. It's not easy,” Batum said of learning the Sixers' playbook and game plan. “You've been through all training camp and then you gotta run a new system in 24 hours. So, I know it's gonna take me a couple practices, maybe a couple games just to get the system, get to know the new guys…I'm gonna try to do it quickly.”
There's never an appropriate time for a personal matter — Batum described it as a “very bad situation, family-wise” — to occur but the timing of Batum's situation raised some eyebrows given how closely it occurred after the trade. Although he did show up to the team's practice facility the day the trade was made official along with the other new Sixers, speculation that would retire instead of joining the Sixers ran rampant.
Batum loved being with the Clippers and playing for Tyronn Lue, saying previously that he saved his life. He was rumored to be considering retirement after this NBA season, so the notion that he would simply forgo the rest of the season rather than join his new team on the other side of the country made the rounds online. Sixers head coach Nick Nurse saying he didn’t know when exactly when Batum would be back fueled the theory.
Lily Batum, Nicolas' wife, reacted to the trade by invoking the message from Lauren Holiday, the wife of Jrue Holiday. After the star guard was traded from the Milwaukee Bucks in the Damian Lillard blockbuster, Lauren posted a message about loyalty to a team and the difficulties of getting traded at a moment’s notice.
When confronted with the idea that he would retire right after the trade, Batum outright denied that he was contemplating retirement and said that the Sixers' brass and head coach Nick Nurse knew he was tending to a serious situation the whole time.
“I was in constant communication with the team, with coach, with Daryl [Morey, the Sixers' president of basketball operations], with Elton [Brand, the team's general manager], with everybody,” Batum said. “They gave me their permission to go…I mean, something's going on I gotta take care of. So, the team knew. I [did not] consider retirement. I don't know where that [came] from.”
Batum said that his new teammates have been helpful as he looks to get acclimated to the Sixers. Despite the challenge of learning a new system on the fly with (mostly) new teammates, he's ready to take it on.
“I'm here. I'm okay to be here. I'm happy to be here,” Batum said. “I'm not retiring or anything I just had to take care of something. Sometimes, stuff is bigger than basketball, so I have to deal with it, I have to get away to take care of it first.”
Batum indicated that he would be ready to play if the Sixers needed him. Nick Nurse has exercised caution when it comes to playing the new guys, waiting until they each got a full practice under them to give one of them (Covington) real playing time. K.J. Martin has seen garbage-time minutes and Marcus Morris Sr., who didn’t play in the regular season or preseason prior to the trade, has not yet seen the court for Philly.
Whenever his chance comes to play with the Sixers and Joel Embiid, whom he has known for a while, Batum will be doing his best to be ready.
“It's a new coach, new routine, new habits, new terminology, new game, new calls, new everything,” Nicolas Batum said. “I‘ve been in the NBA for a long time, been a basketball player for a long time. So, you know, it's gonna be okay.”
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