76ers vs. Thunder: Tyrese Maxey's Playing Status on Saturday

Will Tyrese Maxey face the Thunder on Saturday night?

After making his return to the lineup on Friday night to face the New Orleans Pelicans, Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey will take a night off on Saturday.

Maxey, who suffered a fractured foot back in mid-November, spent more than a month recovering. As a result, the young guard missed 18 straight games for the Sixers.

Although there were rumors Maxey would make it back out on the floor before the Sixers’ Christmas Day matchup against the New York Knicks, the young guard wasn’t cleared for action. 

When the Sixers geared up to face the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday night, Maxey was upgraded to probable after practicing with the team for the first time on Thursday morning. After going through his pregame warmups on Friday night hours before tip-off, the Sixers officially upgraded Maxey to available for the night.

As expected, Maxey came off the bench for Philadelphia. As De’Anthony Melton’s been thriving playing alongside James Harden in the starting five, the Sixers kept the current starting five together for the night, allowing Maxey to ease his way back in, while garnering limited minutes off the bench. 

Doc Rivers anticipated issuing Maxey a minutes restriction against the Pelicans. Therefore, the young guard played well under his season average of 36 minutes per game by clocking a 19-minute shift against New Orleans. During that time, Maxey collected nine points on 40 percent shooting from the field. 

After the game, Maxey revealed he felt good in his first set of action in over a month but was understandably rusty throughout the night, especially in the beginning.

“It was the first time playing in a high-intensity basketball game,” said Maxey. “That is a very good team over there, and we are pretty good as well. I did feel better as the game went along. It was fun being back out there with my teammates.”

The Sixers will be back on the court Saturday night to face the Oklahoma City Thunder. Although Maxey and Doc Rivers couldn’t confirm whether or not the young guard would play on Saturday, the team confirmed he would be ruled out on Saturday. 

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.