The Philadelphia 76ers’ season might be cursed.
Shams Charania of ESPN reported Thursday that Tyrese Maxey, one of the Sixers’ stars, is expected to miss a “couple of weeks” with a right hamstring injury.
Maxey injured his hamstring Wednesday night against the Los Angeles Clippers. He exited the game at the end of the third quarter and was replaced by Jared McCain to start the fourth. The Sixers lost 110-98.
The beginning of the 2024-25 season has been deeply unpleasant for the Sixers. It began with an investigation into how the Sixers were load managing Joel Embiid, who wasn’t able to start the season on time due to knee injury management. Paul George didn’t start on opening night due to a left knee bone bruise. Then Embiid got suspended three games for shoving a reporter who brought up his dead brother in a column that was critical of Embiid’s work ethic. (Embiid has also been issued a technical foul this season from the sideline, before he’s even stepped on the court.)
Now they’re 1-6 with their only win coming in Game 3, a 118-114 overtime win against the Indiana Pacers.
What’s worse for the Sixers is that with Embiid and George out, they’ve had to lean very heavily on Maxey in this opening stretch of games. Now he’ll be missing from the picture for a few weeks.
On the positive side, the Sixers just got George back from his injury, and once he shakes off the rust he’ll be able to help provide the backbone that Maxey was able to give this team. Plus, Embiid is expected to make his season debut next Tuesday against the New York Knicks. They won’t be at full strength, but having two of their stars back is much better than just one.