Sixers' Kelly Oubre Jr. suffers broken rib in hit-and-run in Philadelphia
PHILADELPHIA (CBS/AP) -- Philadelphia 76ers guard Kelly Oubre Jr. broke a rib when he was struck by a vehicle that fled the scene Saturday night in Center City, authorities said.
The 27-year-old Oubre was taken to a hospital in stable condition after being hit and was released a few hours later. The team officially ruled Oubre out for a game Sunday night against the Indiana Pacers and said in a statement he would be re-evaluated in about one week.
Oubre was struck by the vehicle just before 7:30 p.m. on Saturday at the intersection of Hicks and Spruce Streets, police said.
Oubre was walking near his home along the 1400 block of Spruce Street when a vehicle traveling in the same direction "at a high rate of speed" tried to turn south onto the street he was crossing. The vehicle hit him "in the upper chest area with the driver-side mirror," police said.
Authorities also said the car's driver's side mirror hit Oubre in the chest.
The car, described as silver in color, kept going south and fled the scene. Fire department medics responded and took Oubre to Thomas Jefferson University Hospital "in stable condition with a broken rib and injuries to his hip and right leg," police said, adding that an investigation is ongoing.
Sixers head coach Nick Nurse said he found out about the news after he had several missed calls, including some from president of basketball operations Daryl Morey, while he was watching games at his home.
"First of all, it's shocking," Nurse said. "You get the news of what happened and … you're trying to get the information of how bad is it, how much has happened and all that kind of stuff, so I think that when you get through some of that and you get the next update that it's looking like there's stages of bad it's going to be and at the end of it you're surely saying it could've been much worse."
Nurse said Oubre was resting at his home on Sunday night. He added Oubre will most likely rejoin the team from an observation standpoint on Tuesday and they'll reevaluate him in a week.
As far as the basketball side of things, forward Nicolas Batum got the start against the Pacers in Oubre's place on Sunday night. Nurse said the Sixers could see Robert Covington, Furkan Korkmaz and Danuel House Jr. getting more minutes at the wing as well in Oubre's absence.
Oubre is in his first season with the 76ers and has averaged 16.8 points in the first eight games. He was the 15th overall pick of the 2015 draft and has played with four other teams.
"My first initial thoughts was really, you know, he's a guy that was kind of, we picked him up late, was just kind of sitting there that surprisingly didn't have a much free agent summer and then he comes in here and has everything grooving," Nurse said. "Probably, I even saw last night, that he's playing the basketball of his career. So it's really too bad that he was on such an upward trend and probably heading for a good season and all that stuff. So that's kind of a bummer to me, like, for it to happen to him, for a guy who needed a break and he was getting one and he was doing everything he could to get himself a break and then to have that happen, so that puts it a little into perspective."
Sixers fans said they're sad and upset Oubre was hurt and they're praying for his speedy recovery.
"It's really unfortunate. He was having such a great year and I hope he gets better soon. We want him back and he was really good for us," Nick Scaramuzza, of West Chester, said.
"My message to the person who did it is just turn yourself in," Josh McCune, of Easton, said. "That's a horrible thing to do to somebody. This is a human being that you hit. And you have to be looking out for somebody other than yourself."
