After spending three years with the Sixers, veteran forward Kelly Oubre Jr. signed a two-year, $16.5MM contract with the Pacers over the summer. Before Sunday’s matchup between the two teams, Oubre was asked whether he expected to re-sign with Philadelphia in the offseason.

According to Adam Aaronson of PhillyVoice.com (Twitter link), Oubre said he heard “whispers” that Mike Gansey wanted to sign “some of his Cleveland guys” after the former Cavaliers GM became the Sixers’ new president of basketball operations in early June. Philadelphia later signed longtime former Cav Dean Wade in free agency, Aaronson notes.

“Mike came over from Cleveland, and I heard whispers that he wanted some of his Cleveland guys, and I was like, ‘OK, cool. I’m a Philly guy. So, I guess you know when he comes over, I will no longer be a Philly guy,’ and that was kind of the situation at hand,” Oubre said. “No bad blood, because business is business at the end of the day. They have a great team over there, and they put together a team they think that’s the best for them. So I’ll be alright elsewhere. So I figured it out.”

Here’s more on the 76ers:

• Free agent signees Kentavious Caldwell-Pope (11 points on 4-of-7 shooting), five assists, four rebounds, plus-21 in 27 minutes) and Anfernee Simons (17 points on 6-of-9 shooting, three rebounds, two assists, plus-22 in 23 minutes) both made a major impact in Thursday’s win over Toronto, writes Gina Mizell of The Philadelphia Inquirer (subscriber link). Much of the media attention has been on the blockbuster additions of Jaylen Brown and LeBron James, but the team’s roster overhaul extended to the bench as well. “It’s very gratifying, for sure,” Simons said after the game. “[Our responsibilities are] going to change in every game. . … Obviously, the starting unit’s got great players, and [any player] can go for 30 each and every game if they wanted to. As a bench unit, we’ve got to continue to bring the energy each and every night.”
• With Joel Embiid out Sunday due to right foot plantar fascia management (story via Kris Rhim of ESPN), head coach Nick Nurse turned to Jabari Walker as his starting center, per Aaronson (Twitter link). Nurse added that LeBron James and Wade were also small-ball options at the five with Adem Bona (neck) and Dominick Barlow (back) still sidelined with injuries.
• Asked about the possibility of using two-way player Tacko Fall at center prior to Sunday’s game, Nurse said he thinks the 7’6″ big man can help the team, but he lacks a “body of work” to judge his performance, Aaronson tweets. “How can I put this? I just haven’t seen much… I just need to see him out there in some form, I think… There’s not much of a body of work,” Nurse said. Fall received his first rotational minutes of the season on Sunday and pulled down three rebounds in just under five minutes, notes Chris Hine of The Philadelphia Inquirer (via Twitter).