Philadelphia 76ers star guard Tyrese Maxey has been diagnosed with a tendon injury to his right pinkie and will be reevaluated 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 consulted with multiple hand specialists before being diagnosed with the tendon injury, according to the team.
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Maxey sprained the same pinkie last season. He is averaging career highs in points (29), rebounds (4.1), assists (6.7), steals (two) and blocks (0.8) in 61 games for the 76ers, who had lost four of their past five games before rallying to beat the Memphis Grizzlies 139-129 on Tuesday night.
“Obviously, it’s a huge blow for him,” Nurse said after the game. “He’s having an all-NBA season. Just hoping it heals really, really quick, and he gets back to where it doesn’t bother him at all. He’s obviously played tremendous. Obviously puts us in a bind with some of the other guys out, too. Just hopefully these two or three weeks will whiz by and he’ll be ready to go.”
Philadelphia is 33-28 with Maxey — the only NBA player with 100 steals and 50 blocks this season — and 2-2 without him. The 76ers currently occupy the eighth spot in the Eastern Conference.
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 the eligibility requirement for All-NBA honors.
Also sidelined for Philadelphia against the Grizzlies were Joel Embiid (right oblique strain) and Paul George (league suspension). Embiid missed his fifth consecutive contest, and Nurse said that he would be reevaluated later this week. George is a couple of 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 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.
ESPN Research and The Associated Press contributed to this report.
