Tyrese Maxey listed as questionable with finger injury, signaling potential end to his three-week absence
Since then, Maxey has been on the court for practice and at shootarounds, testing out that right hand, and on Friday, he spoke for the first time since sitting out 10 games.
Tyrese Maxey could be coming back to the 76ers sooner than expected. After injuring his right little finger on March 7, Maxey is now listed as questionable for Saturday’s game against the Charlotte Hornets.
Maxey and Adem Bona collided on an inbounds play with 25 seconds to go in a 125-116 loss to the Atlanta Hawks, and Maxey proceeded to roll off the court in pain, which he noted on Friday he was doing to avoid getting run over again.
“When it happened, I’m just like, ‘Oh, man,’” Maxey said. “I knew something wasn’t right. I get hit all the time, and I just bounce back up, but the way it felt, the way my finger was bending, it just didn’t seem right.”
Since then, Maxey has been on the court for practice and at shootarounds, testing that right hand. On Friday, he spoke for the first time since the announcement of the injury that’s kept him sidelined for the last 10 games.
“It’s on my shooting hand,” Maxey said. “That’s the main reason. If it was up to me, if it was on my left hand, no one would even know I was hurt. I’d just be like, ‘Listen, I’m playing regardless.’”
Maxey hurt that right pinky last season, which noticeably impacted his shooting down the stretch as he shot 34.3% from the field and 22% from three in his six games after the injury before the team shut him down.
He said Friday that he played through the injury because he felt the team needed him on the floor. This year’s team, Maxey said, was more capable of “holding down the fort,” even with Joel Embiid and Paul George sidelined.
On March 7, when Maxey suffered his injury, the Sixers were eighth in the Eastern Conference. Since the injury, they’ve actually moved up a position and now are seventh with critical games against Charlotte and Miami next week.
Maxey’s updated status could give the Sixers the rare opportunity to play with their entire group healthy.
“You need as many [reps] as you can get, honestly,” Maxey said. “But with this group, I think practices, every single practice, is big for us. Knowing what we’re going to do, knowing the rotations, knowing how we’re going to play, that’s the biggest thing. Once we get on the court, we’re pretty good.”
Before his injury, Maxey led the NBA in minutes played, and he still leads the league in average minutes per game (38.3), and is 13th in total minutes, despite having played just 61 games. Maxey always wants to be on the court when he can, but noted that having these weeks off was “some good rest.”
Maxey’s injury, and especially Pistons guard Cade Cunningham’s recent collapsed lung, have prompted renewed discussions over the validity of the 65-game rule, which prevents players from being eligible for end-of-season NBA awards if they play fewer than 65 games. Maxey and Cunningham are at 61 games, four games short of eligibility.
NBA commissioner Adam Silver recently said he believes the rule is working as intended. Maxey was dismayed that Cunningham, who is expected to return in mid-April, may no longer be MVP or all-NBA eligible after the season he’s had, but also expressed understanding of the purpose of the rule.
“I think it’s hard to be All-NBA and MVP and all those different things if you don’t play a certain amount of games,” Maxey said. “Do I know what the number should be? No clue, but I do understand where they’re coming from. It’s like, you’re impactful, if you’re available.”