Nerlens Noel, could make his debut this season against Boston, but probably not

Nerlens Noel, the Boston product who played high school ball at the Tilton School (New Hampshire) and college at the University of Kentucky who somehow inexplicably fell to the the number six pick position and the Pelicans in last year's draft (subsequently traded to the 76ers for guard Jrue Holiday) has aspirations of making his NBA debut against his hometown Celtics on April 4.

This according to Brett Pollakoff of NBCsports.com:
Nerlens Noel has yet to play an NBA game this season, after being selected sixth overall in last summer’s draft by the Pelicans and then being traded to the Sixers in exchange for Jrue Holiday.

Philadelphia is the team most associated with tanking this season (i.e., willingly losing games due to lack of personnel), and not rushing Noel back to action, at least initially, was viewed as being part of the team’s strategy.

But Noel is getting closer. And with the Sixers near the bottom of the league-wide standings, there’s no reason to hold him out if he’s truly ready to play, as he could gain some valuable real-world experience over the final few weeks of the regular season.


That was sent from Noel’s Twitter account, and while there’s nothing concrete in place, it’s a goal that he’s shooting for, if nothing else.

The 76ers are being extremely cautious with their highly valued rookie though according to the article so if this will be his actual NBA debut is anyone's guess.

Having said that, 76ers rookie Nerlens Noel, may or may not make his NBA debut against his hometown Celts on April 4th.