Sixers

The Sixers Will Have Zero of Their Max Contract Players to Begin the Week, but Other Than That, Everything is Great

By Kevin Kinkead

Published: Mar 9th, 2026 · 9:35 AM EDT

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If you missed it on Saturday night, the Sixers lost to the Hawks, and during the waning seconds, Tyrese Maxey jacked up his hand in a collision with Adem Bona.

Here’s the update from the team:

“Tyrese Maxey suffered a sprain of the right fifth finger. He will undergo additional testing and consultation in the coming days to determine a treatment plan. He is OUT for the next two games and further updates will be provided after the back-to-back.”

The Sixers are in Cleveland on Monday night and home to Memphis on Tuesday, so no Tyrese for those games. V.J. Edgecombe is listed as questionable on the early injury report with his lumbar bruise, Joel Embiid is OUT with an oblique strain, and Paul George is serving his 25-game suspension. They’ll have zero of the their three max players to begin the week, and they might not have their promising rookie as well.

Problem is, they’ve dropped to 8th in the East during this injury-riddled skid. They’ve lost three of their last four, and after they likely get throttled by Cleveland, they likely get throttled in Detroit on Thursday night. They still have Denver and San Antonio on the road and OKC at home. Their April finish is really tricky as well, with Detroit again on the schedule, at Houston, and home to Minnesota.

So it was one thing for us to sit here all year long and say “just guide a healthy Embiid to the playoffs.” It’s still possible, but now it’s looking like dog fight for seeding. If the season ended today, they’d be a play-in team battling for the privilege of playing the Celtics or Pistons in the first round. And even if they get the 6 seed, they’re going up to New York.

It’s not looking good, no matter how you slice it.