Matisse Thybulle to return from shoulder injury for the Sixers’ game against the New Orleans Pelicans

After missing five games with a sprained shoulder, 76ers wing Matisse Thybulle is projected to return to the starting lineup for Tuesday’s game against New Orleans, coach Doc Rivers said.

Thybulle injured his shoulder on Jan. 14 against the Celtics, when he landed hard on his back after Dennis Schroder pushed him while in the air to throw down a fast-break dunk, an act that resulted in a flagrant foul.

Thybulle is one of the NBA’s best perimeter defenders and is averaging 1.8 steals and 1.1 blocks per game this season. He also averages 5.8 points per game while shooting 28.8% from three-point range, though Rivers praised Thybulle’s recent improvement as a cutter when the Sixers have outside shooters on the floor.

“It’s amazing how tight of a window that is,” Rivers said. “I thought Matisse, for the first time, was feeling it. He could see it develop.”

Thybulle’s return is a lift to a decimated perimeter unit, which was still without Seth Curry (ankle), Danny Green (hip) and Shake Milton (back) against the Pelicans.

The moment the Pelicans’ plane landed in Philly, coach Willie Green felt the connection he will always have to the city and the Sixers.

This is where Green spent the first seven seasons of his playing career, from 2003-10. He vividly remembers his first cheesesteak at Larry’s. He called former teammates Aaron McKie (now Temple’s head coach), Kevin Ollie, Kyle Korver, and assistant Maurice Cheeks as some of his biggest influences during those years. Green also played with Sixers general manager Elton Brand, who made a point to watch film with him and his younger teammates.

“This city, this organization, is a part of what raised me in the NBA,” Green said. “I’m grateful to have started my career here. And then walking through these doors, it just brings back so many memories and great times with my teammates, the staff here and the fans. …

“It’s a collective of a number of people that invested in me, people that just treated me with the utmost respect and love.”

Green later played for Rivers with the Clippers from 2012-14. Rivers immediately identified Green as a future coach, before he worked his way up on the staffs of the Golden State Warriors (2016-19) and Phoenix Suns (2019-21) and then was hired this past offseason by the Pelicans. Rivers has remained somebody Green has “leaned on,” particularly when New Orleans began the season 1-12 while playing without star Zion Williamson.

“He’s been influential in my development as a coach,” Green said. “We’ll go out tonight. We’ll compete. And after, we’ll continue to talk about basketball like we normally do.”