76ers vs. Timberwolves: Tyrese Maxey’s Playing Status on Saturday

Will Tyrese Maxey play on Saturday against the Timberwolves?

The Philadelphia 76ers are expected to take the court shorthanded on Saturday when they host the Minnesota Timberwolves for the second night of a back-to-back.

As the star guard James Harden remains off the floor due to a tendon strain in his foot, Harden was told he would have to miss approximately a month’s worth of games. So far, it’s been just two weeks since Harden started the recovery process.

In the meantime, the Sixers were going to lean on the third-year guard Tyrese Maxey to control the offense. Unfortunately, he’s now dealing with a setback of his own.

During Friday night’s matchup against the Milwaukee Bucks, Maxey went out with an injury in the second quarter. After going to the locker room to get checked out slightly before halftime, Maxey was eventually ruled out for the remainder of the game as he was battling foot pain.

After the game, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers confirmed Maxey would undergo an MRI on Saturday. He also revealed that the young guard was in a walking boot.

“I talked to him,” said Rivers after Friday’s game. “He says what he always says, ‘Coach, I’m good.’ I don’t know if he’ll be good right away would be my guess.” 

Although Rivers couldn’t confirm nor deny whether Maxey would play on Saturday or not, the team didn’t waste time ruling out the guard when they released their initial injury report on Saturday afternoon for the matchup against the Wolves.

While the Sixers are still waiting to hear back about an official diagnosis, the team ruled out Maxey due to “foot pain.” According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, Maxey’s initial X-rays on Friday night came back clean, but the team’s medical staff couldn’t come up with a diagnosis until the results of the MRI are seen.

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