Philadelphia 76ers star guard Tyrese Maxey has been diagnosed with a tendon injury to his right pinkie finger and will be re-evaluated in approximately three weeks, the team announced Tuesday.
The All-Star starter was injured in a collision with teammate Adem Bona with 16 seconds left in a loss at Atlanta on Saturday. Maxey immediately grabbed his right hand, tucking it under his jersey as he walked directly to the locker room.
Coach Nick Nurse said Monday that Maxey underwent X-rays and an MRI that showed there were no broken bones in his hand. But Nurse did say Maxey would “see the hand specialists to figure out what’s next.”
Maxey underwent additional imaging and specialist reviews before being diagnosed with the tendon injury.
Maxey sprained the same pinkie last season. He is averaging career highs in points (29), rebounds (4.1), assists (6.7), steals (2) and blocks (0.8) in 61 games for Philadelphia, which entered its game Tuesday against Memphis in eighth place in the Eastern Conference with four losses in the past five games.
Philadelphia is 33-28 with Maxey — the only player with 100 steals and 50 blocks this season — and 1-2 without him.
The last day of the NBA regular season is April 12. If Maxey were to not play again in the regular season, he would fall four games short of qualifying for the year-end NBA awards.
Also sidelined for Philadelphia against the Grizzlies are Joel Embiid (right oblique strain) and Paul George (league suspension). Embiid will be missing his fifth consecutive contest, and Nurse said that he would be reevaluated later this week. George is a couple weeks away from returning from a 25-game suspension for violating the terms of the NBA’s anti-drug program.
Over the past two seasons, the 76ers have played just 31 games with Embiid, George and Maxey all available.
Maxey currently leads the league in minutes per game and miles traveled per game. His 29 PPG ranks fourth in the NBA and is the most by a 76ers guard since Allen Iverson in 2005-06.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Leave a Reply