Ryan Broekhoff did not travel with Sixers to Orlando because his wife tested positive for COVID-19

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Updated: Sunday, 1:27 p.m. 

The Sixers' newest addition, Ryan Broekhoff, did not travel with the team to Orlando on Thursday afternoon.

Broekhoff tweeted Sunday that he stayed home so that he could focus on his family after his wife tested positive for COVID-19.

“It hasn’t been an easy decision, by any means, to come back,” he said on July 1. “I have a wife and a one-year-old son, and my wife has an autoimmune disease, so she’s at higher risk for COVID. It’s taken a lot for us to be able to get to this point where we signed.

"We spoke to Elton Brand and we spoke to Coach, just wanted to get some more information about how the bubble is going to be down in Orlando. If anything happens, what are my options to get back and take care of my family? That was important to me.”

The Sixers signed Broekhoff to a substitute contract at the end of June, which they were able to do because they had a vacant two-way contract spot. A 40.3 percent career three-point shooter, the Sixers brought Broekhoff in as another potential option to space the floor.

Following the signing, head coach Brett Brown said he was "shocked’" Broekhoff decided to sign with the Sixers, as he was open about the limited opportunity.

“To mislead him about, ‘Hey, there’s a lot of opportunity here,’ that’s not true,” Brown said following the signing. “I told him that. You’ve got, what, six people? We all could look at each other and say, ‘What about Matisse (Thybulle)? And Glenn Robinson, and Furkan (Korkmaz) and Alec Burks?’ You could go on and on and on. ... This isn’t an opportunity where it’s clear there’s a runway and a pathway at all, and that was the flavor of my talk.”

The 29-year-old said he did have an identical offer on the table from another NBA team, as well as additional interest from others, but that his goal is to find a “steady” spot in the NBA.

"I see this as a way to sit up close and personal and get some extra time to learn (Brown’s) philosophies and how things may work, not just with the Sixers but also with the national team," he said.

Brown is also the current head coach of the Australian national team, a position he also held from 2009-2012.

The Sixers' first practice as a team in Orlando is scheduled for Saturday afternoon. The team's first seeding game is set for Aug. 1 against the Pacers. Before that, they have three scrimmages scheduled for July 24, July 26 and July 28.

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