Tyrese Maxey Discusses His Health Following Sixers Win vs. Hornets

When the Philadelphia 76ers geared up for their matchup against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night, they were hoping to have the team back at full strength.

When the Philadelphia 76ers geared up for their matchup against the Charlotte Hornets on Monday night, they were hoping to have the team back at full strength. With Tobias Harris as the only key rotational player listed as questionable, the Sixers were trending in the right direction.

Although Harris missed the Sixers' previous matchup last Friday against the Atlanta Hawks due to a non-COVID illness, the veteran forward felt better a couple of days later and practiced with the Sixers on Sunday afternoon.

While Harris was cleared to play in Monday's game, the Sixers weren't able to make it to tip-off fully healthy. Right around the time Harris was cleared, Sixers' second-year guard Tyrese Maxey was ruled as he was dealing with the same non-COVID issue as Harris. Monday night marked the first time this season Maxey missed a game. 

On Wednesday night, the Sixers and the Hornets were set to meet once again at the Spectrum Center to wrap up their two-game mini-series. Tobias Harris was left off the injury report this time around, but Maxey remained questionable on it as he wasn't fully recovered from sickness just yet.

Before the game, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers weighed in on Maxey's status revealing that the young guard was hit hard by his illness recently. "I don't know [what to expect of him]," said Rivers. "He was knocked out pretty good, so I don't expect a lot. We'll see. He's young, and those guys seem to recover a lot quicker than us."

Maxey was cleared to play in Wednesday's game and was inserted back into the starting lineup. As expected, though, he wasn't himself. Checking in for 26 minutes, Maxey got up just five shots in Charlotte. He drained two baskets, with one coming from beyond the arc, and collected a free throw attempt for a total of six points.

In addition to his scoring struggles, Maxey uncharacteristically turned the ball over three times, which tied for a team-high with Sixers center Andre Drummond. Fortunately, Maxey's struggles didn't contribute to a Sixers loss as his team escaped Charlotte with back-to-back wins. After Wednesday's matchup, Maxey offered an update on his health, revealing he's not one-hundred percent.

"I felt okay," said the young guard after the game. "[It's] still hard to breathe, but it was really good to be back out there. I feel like the sweat was good for me, but it was good to be back out there tonight."

Maxey and the Sixers won't get too much rest time after facing Charlotte. Twenty-four hours after tipping off against the Hornets, the Sixers will begin their matchup against the Utah Jazz back in Philly. Considering Maxey played on Wednesday, he'll likely appear in Thursday's game as well. Whether he'll be one-hundred percent or not for the second half of the back-to-back set of games is a different story.

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