Tyrese Maxey Appreciates Joel Embiid's 'Best Player' Praise

Joel Embiid regarded Tyrese Maxey as the 76ers' best player. The young guard responded a couple of weeks later.

The Philadelphia 76ers dealt with a handful of key injuries early on during the 2022-2023 NBA season. James Harden was the first starter to go out with an injury, as he suffered a tendon strain in his foot in November. 

Tyrese Maxey was the second, as he suffered a fracture a couple of weeks later. Although Maxey was initially rumored to be returning to the court within three-to-four weeks of his diagnosis, the star guard took much longer than expected to get back.

Prior to going out, Maxey thrived in his second season as a full-time starter with the Sixers. Throughout the first 15 games of the year, Maxey averaged 23 points and four assists while knocking down 42 percent of his threes. 

A couple of weeks back, Joel Embiid discussed the Sixers’ health issues early on in the season and praised his teammates for having a successful next-man-up mentality. While discussing the recent success of the Sixers, Embiid noted that the team was missing its “best player” in Maxey.

It’s been a while since Maxey addressed the media since he went down with an injury in November, but on Friday night, the young guard showed appreciation for the big man’s compliment.

“That’s him being extremely humble,” Maxey said regarding Embiid. “That’s like the best player in the world. You know, you just appreciate him. He has a lot of confidence in his teammates, and that just shows. There was a play in the second half; I threw him the ball, he threw it back to me, I threw it back to him, and he said, ‘Shoot the ball.’ Then he threw it back to me. That’s just Jo, man. We need him, and he feels like he needs us, and we help him when we knock down shots and space the floor for him, so now he can go ISO and play one-on-one with whoever is guarding him. It was good to be back out there, though”

Maxey made his anticipated return on Friday night against the New Orleans Pelicans. Being that he’s not one hundred percent, the young guard came off the bench and checked in for under 20 minutes in his first set of action following his recovery.

It might take some time for Maxey to return to form, but Embiid and the Sixers are looking forward to re-integrating the young rising star back into the swing of things. 

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