My apologies to the sanctity of the NBA Cup, but watching the Sixers trot out Tyrese Maxey for 30-plus minutes in a 41-point loss on Tuesday evening is not sitting well with me. The Sixers were down their four non-Maxey starters against Orlando and this bad boy was over at halftime. Despite it all, there was Maxey in the second half continuously trying to carry the entire roster on his back, as he’s done successfully throughout this young season.
This is nothing new this season. It’s become the norm.
It needs to change.
Maxey is leading the league in total minutes played and minutes per game, almost at 40 minutes per night. Nick Nurse and the Sixers are going to run this dude into the ground early in a season where winning a championship is completely off the table.
This isn’t to say that Maxey should be shut down or switched to load management mode given the overall state of the team. I’d be wholly against that. I love that Maxey can be a reliable player nearly every night to entertain fans from the comfort of their couches or at the arena in South Philadelphia. In an era where Joel Embiid’s health status felt like it determined whether the Sixers would win or lose before tipoff even happened, it’s refreshing to see a point guard primed to make his first All-NBA appearance this season be The Guy the city can latch onto come gameday. What worries me is that his current usage is going to prevent that from regularly being the case the season or, frighteningly, beyond.
The Sixers’ roster construction has been a major problem and contributes heavily to this. Embiid and Paul George are making over $100 million combined this season and are rarely in the lineup. The team’s resources are poured into two name-brand players who have histories as elite scorers. When their spots are filled by cheap bench players who could never sniff their peak scoring touch, Maxey is playing with worse talent around him and necessitating him to essentially do everything for the Sixers’ offense.
The guard depth and back end of the roster are no help to Maxey in their own right.
37-year-old Eric Gordon has played 44 minutes total this season. 39-year-old Kyle Lowry has played three. Those are just complete wastes of roster spots when the team is burning out their brightest star on a nightly basis.
This is a front office issue as much as it is a coaching issue!
I want a full season of Maxey leading the Sixers on a path to compelling basketball. I want him leading a young Sixers core deep into a first-round series against a clear-cut better playoff opponent, willing them to the possibility of advancing come April. What I don’t want is it to be January and we’re all receiving a horrific push notification on our phones about a Maxey injury due to him being overworked.
Sixers, please, let Maxey loose and help him find his way to superstardom, but do it smartly.
