76ers All-Star Tyrese Maxey Ruled Out for Rest of Season

Philadelphia 76ers point guard Tyrese Maxey appears poised to join his All-Star teammates Joel Embiid and Paul George on the bench for the rest of the club's surprisingly short season starting Thursday.

Per Shams Charania of ESPN, it is now anticipated that the 6-foot-2 Kentucky product will miss the balance of the 2024-25 regular season with a finger tendon injury. He has been unavailable since March 3 with the ailment.

Charania writes that, while the 24-year-old has been attempting to rehabilitate the ailing digit for the past month, it has been determined that he will need more rest.

At 23-53, the 76ers will miss the postseason for the first time since the 2016-17 NBA season.

With the postseason out of reach, the team is now angling to hold on to its own lottery pick.

Philadelphia flipped its top-six protected 2025 first-round selection to the Oklahoma City Thunder to get off Al Horford's contract in 2020, meaning the pick will convey to the 64-12 Thunder if it lands outside the top six of the 2025 NBA Draft.

As Charania notes, Maxey's projected absence means that Philadelphia's three All-Stars (although none of them earned that distinction this year) will now miss the final six games of their team's season.

After the 76ers spared no expense with a splashy offseason, Philadelphia was seen by many pundits (including, yes, this one) as having a major chance to finish near the top of the Eastern Conference this season.

Center Embiid, the 2023 league MVP and one of the best overall big men in the game, was inked to a massive three-year, $192.9 million deal to stay with the only NBA team he's ever known through 2028-29, his age-34 season.

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Maxey, hot on the heels of a breakout 2023-24 campaign, signed a five-year, $203.9 million contract with Philadelphia as a restricted free agent.

76ers general manager Daryl Morey also let embattled forward Tobias Harris depart in free agency. Morey pivoted, bringing in nine-time All-Star forward George on a four-season, $211.6 million maximum contract.

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Armed with this decorated trio and a cadre of new and re-signed role players, Philadelphia no doubt expected to punch its ticket back to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2001 — following years as a bridesmaid also-ran in the East.

Instead, health and chemistry issues wreaked havoc on Philadelphia's roster, and the club has been in freefall for most of the year.

Maxey looked good when he did play — unfortunately, it wasn't enough to cure what's been ailing his 76ers. Across healthy 52 games this season, he posted averages of 26.3 points on .437/.337/.879 shooting splits, 6.1 assists, 3.3 rebounds and 1.8 steals a night.

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