Jared McCain puts on a shooting display, Joel Embiid sits out against the Magic, and more

Jared McCain, who is recovering from right thumb surgery, has been out of his splint for two days.

But the 76ers guard put on a solid shooting display following Monday’s shootaround, and looked like someone who could make a solid impact upon his return.

“That’s the progress,” coach Nick Nurse said before Monday night’s game against the Orlando Magic at Xfinity Mobile Arena. “He’s going to have to go through a series of days of contact and all that stuff, too.”

The second-year player was cleared to switch from his initial splint to a smaller one and take part in drills after being reevaluated a couple of days ago. As was the case prior to the injury, he shot the ball at a high percentage during the workout.

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He began his session by shooting three-pointers with VJ Edgecombe and Eric Gordon. After Edgecombe and Gordon cleared the court, McCain participated in solo drills, attempting more threes and concluding with foul shots.

“Inserting him in with the VJ, Tyrese [Maxey] and [Quentin Grimes guard] group is the plan,” Nurse said of how he wants to use McCain. “That was sort of the plan going into the season. Again, I think they all can do a variety of things, and give us a chance to have some more depth. Gives us a chance to, again, play some shorter stints so the energy can stay high and all those things.

“We need him back. We look forward to having him back.”

McCain suffered the injury while working out on Sept. 25, the day before the unofficial start of his second season. He underwent surgery on Sept. 30 at the Hospital for Special Surgery.

McCain had previously been cleared as a full training-camp participant after missing the final 4½ months of last season with a torn meniscus in his left knee. He suffered that injury on Dec. 13 during a home loss to the Indiana Pacers.

McCain, now 21, was a revelation for the Sixers last season and would have been a major contributor for a struggling team if he had remained healthy.

Despite playing in just 23 games, he finished tied for seventh in the NBA’s rookie of the year voting. McCain was awarded a third-place vote from the media panel of 100 voters. Before the injury, he was the favorite to win the award.

McCain averaged 15.3 points, 2.4 rebounds, and 2.6 assists. He also shot 46% from the field — including 38.3% from three. The California native joined Hall of Famer Allen Iverson as the only Sixers rookies to average at least 15 points and two made three-pointers.

He made three or more three-pointers in eight consecutive games from Nov. 8-22 to set an NBA rookie record.

McCain was named the Eastern Conference rookie of the month for games played in October and November last season.

It wasn’t surprising that Joel Embiid missed Monday’s game.

The 2023 MVP and seven-time All-Star won’t play on both nights of back-to-backs, and the Sixers will face the Washington Wizards at the Capital One Arena on Tuesday.

Embiid played in just 19 games last season before undergoing arthroscopic surgery on his left knee on April 11. It was his second left knee surgery in 14 months and third in nine years.

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Embiid playing “is always going to be our best version of our basketball team,” Nurse said. “He’s still obviously working his way back into being the guy that can play. I don’t know if we’re ever going to get to 48 minutes, but working his way up the ladder a little bit.

“I think we know the situation we’re in with back-to-backs that he’d be missing one of the two games, and we got to go play, knowing that is probably better than finding out another way.”

Nurse said Dominick Barlow was undergoing a procedure on Monday to address a right elbow laceration while his teammates were facing the Magic. The power forward will also sit out Tuesday’s contest.

Barlow averaged 7.5 points, 6.0 rebounds, and 2.5 assists as the starting power forward in the first two games.

“It was kind of a nice fit,” Nurse said of Barlow being in the starting lineup. “He was guarding tough. He was rebounding tough. He was offensive rebounding really well. We just got to move on. And again, it affects your depth.”