Sixers star Tyrese Maxey discusses his injury, how he stays upbeat
CAMDEN, N.J.–The Philadelphia 76ers are dealing with a slew of injuries up and down their lineup to the likes of James Harden, Tyrese Maxey, and now Joel Embiid. This is a tough time for Philadelphia at the moment and they have to find a way to battle through.
Maxey, who played in 61 games as a rookie in the 72-game season and then played 75 games in the 2021-22 season, is normally a player who is always available and he wants to play on a nightly basis so this is something new for him and something he has to overcome during his 3-to-4 week recovery timeline.
He suffered the injury in Friday’s win over the Milwaukee Bucks and he had a terrific first half scoring 24 points on 9-for-12 shooting before leaving at halftime. He knew something was off with him.
“I think I knew as soon as I did it,” Maxey said on Monday. “Sometimes, you tweak your ankle a lot just playing basketball, and you notice you tweaked your ankle. When I did it, I kind of heard the pop, and I was telling somebody, I think it may have been (Danuel) House. He was like ‘Reese, tie your shoe!’ I was like, ‘Nah, it’s not my ankle, it’s my foot’ and it’s life. I’ll be OK. It’s not the end of the world. I’ll be alright.”
With that being said, Maxey now has to stay upbeat and continue to be a positive influence on this team to help them succeed. So, despite his injury and the possibility of affecting him mentally, the young star is focused on being happy.
“I feel good,” he smiled as he sat in a boot. “I’m happy. That’s life. I’m glad I get to be here and still support my teammates and I can walk and smile and my family’s in town. So it’s great.”
Tyrese Maxey: “I feel good.”
He’s still absolutely himself. Said he’s grateful to be alive and that his family is in town for Thanksgiving. pic.twitter.com/Q4nevCVsHJ— Paul Hudrick (@PaulHudrick) November 21, 2022
Despite the negative situation Maxey finds himself in at the moment, the young man is smiling through it all as he leans on the fact that he does have his family with him and he can be alive and with them to celebrate the holidays.
“That and then just being alive,” Maxey added. “I mean, I’m grateful to be alive every single day. Every time I get to wake up and I can breathe and I can walk around and move around and I have all my limbs and stuff. I still thank God every day so I’m happy.”
With that being said, to pass the time for when he can get back in the gym and get back to playing basketball again, he has to find a way to at least have some fun with it.
“The last couple days, I’ve been in the house,” he said. “I’ve been playing Call of Duty. I got actually pretty good at it. I got good at that. My dog, he doesn’t understand the whole boot situation. He doesn’t understand like, ‘You can’t jump on me right now’. He doesn’t understand that.”
The Sixers will look to get back in the win column on Tuesday when they play host to old friend Ben Simmons and the Brooklyn Nets.
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