Dominick Barlow might surpass his career minutes total before this season by the All-Star break. In his first year in Philadelphia, Barlow has seemingly stumbled into the biggest opportunity of his career. With Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Trendon Watford all injured to start the season, Barlow is one of the few frontcourt bodies still standing, so Nick Nurse doesn't have any choice but to play him.
That sounds more like desperation than anything, but what if Barlow breaks out? It's not as crazy as you may think. Barlow has played three NBA seasons, but only appeared in 96 games before this year — so barely over one full season. He's also just 22 years old because he went straight from high school in Philadelphia to Overtime Elite.
It's pretty tough to convince NBA teams that you're draft pick-caliber by playing in OTE (unless you're the Thompson Twins) so Barlow went undrafted, played sparingly for the Spurs, played sparingly for the Hawks, and then landed in Philly. I'm not saying he's a hidden superstar, but he's still largely a mystery who hasn't gotten a full chance to show what his game entails.
Dominick Barlow is still a mostly unknown player
Color me shocked that a player who went straight from high school to Overtime Elite to the NBA needs a little time to develop his game. Barlow was nearly a top 100 high school recruit, so the talent has been there for years. And he hasn't even been bad in limited NBA action, it's just been, well, limited. He hasn't averaged over 15 minutes per game in any of his NBA seasons, and hasn't played more than 35 games in any of them, either.
All of that combines to make Barlow a pretty intriguing prospect at 22. In the Sixers season opener, Barlow rebounded extremely well, played solid defense the whole night, finished through contact, and played like a guy still trying to earn a roster spot — or a guy making the most of his opportunity. NBA players fall through the cracks far more often than we realize. If nothing else, props to the Sixers for taking a swing on someone who could fit that description.
Most Sixers fans likely didn't know who Dominick Barlow was before last night. That's not their fault — Barlow has flown under the radar his entire NBA career. But with a pretty clear NBA-level skillset and a real opportunity to get more than spot minutes, he could become a household name. And "Dominick Barlow" is a name that will sound great in a Philly accent.
Also, for the record, VJ Edgecombe is going to break out, too. But that was obvious all along.