Joel Embiid, Shake Milton Discuss Tyrese Maxey's Injury

What Joel Embiid and Shake Milton had to say regarding Tyrese Maxey's on Friday.

Injuries have plagued the Philadelphia 76ers as of late. Going into their four-day break following a back-to-back set of games against the Atlanta Hawks and the Utah Jazz last weekend, the Sixers had two players recovering from injuries in, James Harden and Furkan Korkmaz.

In addition, the fourth-year defensive standout Matisse Thybulle was battling a tweaked ankle, which forced him to miss two-straight practices. Then on the morning of Friday night’s return game against the Milwaukee Bucks, the Sixers added Tobias Harris to the injury report as he deals with hip soreness. Although he was questionable against the Bucks, Harris was ruled out 30 minutes before tip.

The injury hits didn’t stop coming for the shorthanded Sixers. While they were in the midst of their Friday night battle against the Bucks, the team’s starting point guard Tyrese Maxey suffered a lower-body injury, which forced him to head to the locker room. Shortly after halftime concluded, Maxey was ruled out for the rest of the game. 

"Man, it sucks,” said Sixers star center Joel Embiid. “What more is there to say? Three guys, between him, James (Harden) and Tobias (Harris), those are big pieces of our team. It does suck, and I'm just going to pray and hope that nothing is wrong.”

The Sixers confirmed that Maxey was battling a foot injury. According to a report, the third-year guard received an X-ray, which came back negative. Maxey’s now set to undergo an MRI on Saturday morning ahead of Philly’s matchup against the Minnesota Timberwolves.

“It hurt,” said Sixers guard Shake Milton. “I know that kid is a warrior. If he could be out there with us, he definitely would be.”

Although Maxey was the hot hand in the first half for the Sixers, scoring a team-high of 24 points in the first half, the team managed to come together and find success without the young guard when they came out in the second half. 

“For us, my whole five years since I’ve been out here, it’s been a next-man-up mentality,” Milton continued. “That’s been part of our culture with the Sixers. We just try to stay ready and next man up, so I just had to turn on that switch and have that mentality of being aggressive and trying to make plays for the team.”

Milton served his role well in the backcourt in the absence of Maxey, as he collected 15 points and six assists in 31 minutes of action. 

Meanwhile, Joel Embiid led the pack with 31 points in 36 minutes. While losing Maxey is a significant blow for the 76ers, they managed to find success over the Bucks on Friday as they picked up a 110-102 victory. 

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