Sixers Must Bury Past Bad Habits in Light of Tyrese Maxey Update

A dark, stormy cloud has engulfed the Sixers this week.

On Tuesday, the Sixers announced that Tyrese Maxey will miss at least the next three weeks with a tendon injury in his right pinky finger. The two-time All-Star became a new entry on Philadelphia’s daunting list of injuries that also features Joel Embiid and Paul George.

The bad news didn't stop there. On Wednesday, the Sixers announced that Kelly Oubre Jr. would be out for at least approximately two weeks with an LCL sprain in his left elbow.

With the banged-up Sixers on the cusp of the Play-In Tournament, some fans are welcoming the idea of another tank. However, they aren't likely to reap the benefits of yet another losing season, as they owe their 2026 first-round pick to the Oklahoma City Thunder if it falls outside of the top four.

Without a reward for their tanking efforts, the Sixers would waste another year of their core of Maxey, Embiid and George and continue to facilitate a culture where losing is accepted.

“We got to stay ready, everybody got to stay ready,” Cameron Payne after the Sixers' 139-129 win against the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday. “Obviously it sucks to lose [Maxey], but we got other guys on the team that can make plays and we just got to keep getting better together and find a way to win games.”

Why the Sixers can't afford to tank

The Sixers owe that pick to OKC as part of the Al Horford salary dump. They originally sent a top-six-protected 2025 first-round pick to the Thunder in that deal, but they managed to keep that pick when they finished 24-58 last year and jumped up to the No. 3 slot in the lottery. They used it to select VJ Edgecombe.

If the Sixers do manage to land in the top four and keep their pick this year as well, they'll owe the Thunder a top-four-protected pick in 2027. The good news is that they would no longer owe their 2028 top-eight-protected first-round pick to the Brooklyn Nets, though. They'd have to send their 2028 second-rounder to Brooklyn instead.

Despite the Sixers' recent skid, they're still the No. 8 seed in the Eastern Conference at 35-30. Even they lose out for the rest of the year, the worst they could finish is 35-47. Four teams have already clinched worse records, and the 20-46 Utah Jazz aren't far away from joining that group.

If the Sixers bottom out and miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season, they’ll likely be left with nothing but a disgruntled fanbase, a nucleus that is only aging and a team who grew accustomed to losing.

While the Sixers aren't likely to retain their own pick, they did acquire a 2026 first-round pick in the Jared McCain trade last month (likely via the Houston Rockets). That pick figures to be somewhere in the 20s, but this is supposed to be a deep and talent-rich draft class. They could still land an impact player in that range.

If the Sixers tanked the rest of the season, it would not bode well for their marquee players, regardless of whose timeline the team is operating on. Do they want the stench of losing to linger on a roster that has nine players younger than 25 years old?

What should the Sixers do?

George and Embiid have not played since January 29 and March 1, respectively, and will each be older than 31 years old next season. Given their unreliability this season and their combined 60 games played last season, there is no guarantee that their bodies can make it through the 82-game regular season next year unscathed.

The Sixers made it clear at the trade deadline that they aren't operating in win-now mode. But they cannot revert to tanking and waste what was primed to be an All-NBA season from Maxey.

The Sixers may not last long in the postseason, as they're on pace to wind up in the play-in tournament for the second time in three seasons. If they don’t climb back into a top-six seed, their best-case scenario is to advance through the play-in and face the first or second seed, which are currently held by the Detroit Pistons and Boston Celtics, respectively.

Neither tanking nor an early postseason elimination are ideal outcomes for Philadelphia, but showcasing resilience through adversity could positively impact the locker room and a fanbase whose faith is waning.

Maxey is amidst his prime, Embiid and George’s productivity will only regress with age, and the Sixers fandom has gone too long without something to cheer for.