Philadelphia 76ers head coach Doc Rivers gave a brutally honest take Thursday on guard Tyrese Maxey’s ongoing recovery — or lack thereof — from his foot injury.
Maxey suffered a small fracture in his left foot during a game in mid-November against the Milwaukee Bucks. It was initially reported that the third-year pro would miss three to four weeks, but that will obviously not be the case.
Widely thought of as the Sixers’ three best, or most important players, Maxey, Joel Embiid and James Harden have missed a combined 34 games already this season and the campaign hasn’t even reached Christmas yet. The trio have all dealt with foot injuries in the first two months of the season.
Philadelphia’s first third of 2022-2023 has been a roller coaster, already with a pair of three-game losing streaks, but four three-game winning streaks as well. They’ll look to push their current streak to a season-high four consecutive wins when they host the defending-champion Golden State Warriors — who just lost Stephen Curry to a shoulder injury — on Friday.
After showing promise in limited minutes as a rookie out of Kentucky, Maxey broke out during the 2021-2022 campaign by averaging 17.5 points, 4.3 assists and 3.2 rebounds over 75 games (74 starts) while the organization dealt with the Ben Simmons saga. In 15 games prior to his injury this season, the 22-year-old was posting career-highs in points (22.9), assists (4.4), rebounds (3.1), and minutes played (36.4).
