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76ers News: Tyrese Maxey Could Return vs. Pelicans

76ers guard Tyrese Maxey seems to be on pace to return this week.

Justin Grasso

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Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey could make his return to the floor this week. According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Maxey is “set to return” as soon as the Sixers’ Friday night matchup against the New Orleans Pelicans.

Maxey went down with a foot injury during the team’s November 18 matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks. After having a stellar performance in the first half of the outing, dropping 24 points on 12 shots, Maxey landed awkwardly, suffering a foot injury.

The following day, Maxey was diagnosed with a small fracture in his foot. Initial reports indicated that Maxey could return to the court in three-to-four weeks. Philadelphia’s December 16 game against the Golden State Warriors marked four weeks since Maxey suffered his setback. At that point, the star guard was ruled out for his 13th straight game.

While reports indicated that Maxey was expected to take the floor before Philadelphia’s Christmas Day game against the New York Knicks, the young veteran would not return in time.

Sunday’s game against the Knicks was the 17th game Maxey missed this year. Ahead of the Sixers’ Friday night matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers, head coach Doc Rivers mentioned that Maxey was “close” to coming back but highly doubted the rising star would return on Christmas.

“He’s close, I can tell you that,” said Rivers. “He’s making great progress and had a great workout yesterday, so he’s close.”

The Sixers are set to take on the Washington Wizards on Tuesday night in DC. While the team has yet to rule Maxey out, all signs point towards him missing his 18th matchup of the year. The Sixers, who will likely have a practice between their Tuesday night matchup against Washington and their Friday night game in New Orleans, will likely hope to implement Maxey in a session because he makes his anticipated return to the court.

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

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Justin Grasso
JUSTIN GRASSO

Title: Credentialed writer/reporter covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation Email: JustinGrasso32@Gmail.com Location: Philadelphia, PA Expertise: Reporting, insight, and analysis on the Sixers and the NBA  Justin Grasso is a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation.  Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writer’s Association.  Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoNBA

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