Tyrese Maxey Increases Practice Activity With Return Ahead

Tyrese Maxey is on pace to return soon.

For the last few weeks, Tyrese Maxey’s lack of post-practice workouts stood out. Although the Philadelphia 76ers’ rising star was reportedly expected to return within three-to-four weeks of his fractured foot diagnosis, by week four, Maxey wasn’t doing much outside of grabbing rebounds and making passes to his teammates during post-practice shootarounds.

Doc Rivers hoped Maxey would have a significant turnaround in his recovery a few weeks back, but the head coach admitted that things did not go as planned. Following a practice session ahead of the Sixers’ seven-game homestand, Rivers mentioned that Maxey had a couple more weeks to go before he would return to the floor.

A report hinted that Maxey’s return to play should come before Christmas. Ahead of the Sixers’ matchup against the Los Angeles Clippers last Friday, Rivers expressed doubts about Maxey playing in New York on Christmas Day. Sure enough, that was the case.

Not only did Maxey miss the December 25 matchup, but he sat out for Philadelphia’s Tuesday night matchup against the Washington Wizards as well. Tuesday’s matchup marked the 18th straight game Maxey would miss. 

The promising sign was that Maxey was much more active during the team’s Tuesday morning shootaround. Hours after, Sixers head coach Doc Rivers revealed that Maxey is, in fact, doing more and is on the practice court with the Sixers’ “low-minute” group.

“He had a good practice yesterday with the low-minute group,” said Rivers.”I think we landed about two, three, or whatever, and all the guys who would play in the low-minute group went right over to Georgetown and played. That was good. Today was good, so he’s getting closer for sure.”

The Sixers haven’t held a team practice in quite some time, as games have been scheduled for every other day during this stretch. Therefore, Maxey hasn’t participated in a five-on-five run just yet. However, with seven other guys available, including players and coaches, Maxey got a full-court run in one day prior to the Sixers’ Tuesday night game against the Wizards.

The next time the Sixers will return to the floor is on Friday to face the New Orleans Pelicans on the road. While Rivers and the Sixers aren’t able to confirm whether Maxey will suit up for Friday’s game or not just yet, all signs are pointing towards the young guard’s return coming at the end of the week.

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