Paul George will miss Tuesday night’s game against the Phoenix Suns at Xfinity Mobile Arena with left knee injury management.
This comes after the 76ers forward missed Monday’s 113-104 victory over the Indiana Pacers with the same designation. George is averaging 15.9 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 3.7 assists in 23 games. Tuesday’s game will mark the 19th game (of 42) that he has missed this season. George missed the start of the season after recovering from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in the offseason.
Sixers center Joel Embiid (right ankle injury management) is also sidelined due to not being cleared to play on both nights of back-to-backs. The 7-foot-2, 280-pounder finished with a game-high 30 points on Monday.
With the star duo out, Andre Drummond and Kelly Oubre Jr. join Dominick Barlow, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe in Tuesday’s starting lineup.
Halfway through the regular season, with All-Star Weekend slowly approaching, the NBA has announced its best-selling jerseys from the season thus far — and Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey has cracked the top 10 of the sale list.
The 25-year-old has easily become a fan favorite throughout his six seasons in Philadelphia. And following Monday’s announcement that the former league’s Most Improved Player will be starting in his first All-Star Game this year — earning his second All-Star nod — those jerseys will most likely be even more in demand.
Maxey, who currently averages 30.2 points, 6.7 assists, and 4.4 rebounds, was followed on the list by Dallas Mavericks rookie Cooper Flagg, and Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant. Golden State’s Stephen Curry and the Los Angeles Lakers’ Luka Doncic top the list.
Nine players on the list have been named starters for the 2026 All-Star Game, with Lakers star LeBron James as the only player to miss the cut.
Here’s the full top 15:
Stephen Curry, Golden State Warriors
Luka Doncic, Los Angeles Lakers
Jalen Brunson, New York Knicks
Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs
LeBron James, Los Angeles Lakers
Anthony Edwards, Minnesota Timberwolves
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Oklahoma City Thunder
Jayson Tatum, Boston Celtics
Nikola Jokic, Denver Nuggets
Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers
Cooper Flagg, Dallas Mavericks
Kevin Durant, Houston Rockets
Giannis Antetokounmpo, Milwaukee Bucks
Cade Cunningham, Detroit Pistons
Donovan Mitchell, Cleveland Cavaliers
Meanwhile, the Sixers were named one of the teams with the top-selling NBA merchandise, coming in at No. 5 above the Boston Celtics and the Minnesota Timberwolves.
There will be times when passionate teammates have heated exchanges.
One of those occasions happened Friday night between the 76ers’ backcourt mates, Tyrese Maxey and VJ Edgecombe, during a loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers.
The two were spotted arguing near the bench during a break in action after Edgecombe left Cavs standout Donovan Mitchell wide-open for a three-pointer. Maxey yelled something to Edgecombe after the made basket, and the discussion continued on the sideline during a timeout. The two-time All-Star point guard even rose from the bench to further explain his point to Edgecombe, leading to a spirited discussion in front of teammates, coaches, fans, and cameras.
A video of the exchange, which circulated on social media, has gone viral.
“I was not aware until my dad called me and was like, ‘Hey, you and VJ good?’” Maxey said. “I was like, ‘Uh, yeah. Why?’ A couple of people sent [the video] to me, and I kind of just laughed at it. We want to win so, so bad. And we talked about the scenario of, like, not leaving Donovan Mitchell. … I didn’t want him to leave Donovan Mitchell.”
With Mitchell running down the court, Maxey wanted Edgecombe to switch off Craig Porter Jr., the ball handler. Instead, both players followed Porter, who passed to a wide-open Mitchell.
After catching the pass, the six-time All-Star stepped into a 27-foot three-pointer to knot the score at 16 with 6 minutes, 52 seconds remaining in the first quarter. The Sixers held Mitchell to 13 points on 4-for-13 shooting that night after he tormented them for 35 points two nights before.
Aside from the miscommunication, the Sixers guards did a solid job defending him. However, they struggled offensively. Maxey had 22 points on 9-for-23 shooting. Edgecombe scored 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting. He didn’t attempt a shot in the third quarter and scored three points on 1-for-2 shooting in the fourth.
But a lot of attention went to their exchange in the video.
“I just told him, like, man, in certain scenarios, certain principles go out the window,” Maxey said of wanting Edgecombe to switch on to Mitchell. “Like, this dude is really good, and he had 35 on us last night. I say all that to say, we just want to win. Like, we laughed about it after the game. I was the first person to tell him, like, ‘Dude, you shooting five times in a basketball game is not going to cut it for us. Like, we need you. You’ve got to be up to 10, 12. Like, you’ve got to be aggressive.’
“So, man, that’s fine. That’s my dog. That’s my little brother.”
McConnell’s milestone
On Friday, T.J. McConnell joined another former Sixer, Lou Williams, as the only players in NBA history to record 3,000 assists off the bench.
McConnell, who’s in his seventh season with the Indiana Pacers, reached the milestone with two assists in the first quarter of the Pacers’ 129-117 victory over the New Orleans Pelicans.
Williams, who played a combined 17 seasons with the Sixers, Atlanta Hawks, Toronto Raptors, Los Angeles Lakers, Houston Rockets, and Los Angeles Clippers, recorded 3,262 assists as a reserve and added 527 as a starter.
Former Sixers guard T.J. McConnell (9), now with the Indiana Pacers, posted a stat that is unique to only two players who spent time in Philly.
After adding three assists in Monday’s 114-103 loss to the Sixers, McConnell has 3,010 assists off the bench. The 11th-year veteran is just one of five players to reach career marks of 3,000-plus points, 2,000-plus assists, 1,500-plus rebounds, and 500-plus steals as a reserve.
“I feel like my playing here established the player I was going to be throughout my career,” McConnell said of spending his first four NBA seasons with the Sixers. “It established a mindset on how I’m going to play, how I’m going to go about it, and how I’m going to be a pro.
“Obviously, I’m very thankful for my time here, because I wouldn’t have been put in a position to play as many years as I did. For them to take a chance on me and establish the type of player I want to be, I’m thankful.”
Undrafted out of Arizona, McConnell began his NBA journey as the Sixers’ fifth-string point guard during training camp in 2015. At the time, the 6-foot-1, 190-pounder didn’t even have a locker.
The former Sixers fan favorite averaged 6.4 points and 4.7 assists in 314 games with 72 starts before signing a free-agent deal with the Pacers on July 29, 2019.
Two months ago, 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey joined Indiana Pacers guard Tyrese Haliburton in a live group chat during a Thunder-Lakers game. When the 25-year-old was asked about the possibility of getting his own signature shoe, Maxey responded: “One can only hope and pray.”
Those prayers have been answered.
Maxey will be getting his own signature shoe, set to debut later in 2026, New Balance confirmed. ESPN was the first to report Maxey’s new shoe.
“We’re so excited that Tyrese was named an All-Star starter and to get to share this moment with him,” said Naveen Lokesh, head of global sports marketing for basketball at New Balance. “He represents everything we value at New Balance — hard work, authenticity, and confidence — so working together to bring his first signature shoe to life is a natural step in celebrating who he is and where his journey is headed.”
Maxey first signed a shoe deal with New Balance in 2023, joining Kawhi Leonard, Jamal Murray, and Zach LaVine. During the 2023-24 season, which saw him earn the NBA Most Improved Player Award and his first All-Star nod, Maxey appeared on a New Balance billboard in Indianapolis during All-Star Weekend. As the brand’s roster of athletes expands, Maxey has also been involved in New Balance’s “We Got Now” ad campaign alongside stars from other sports including Shohei Ohtani and Coco Gauff.
Two years after signing with the brand, it took another step forward in its partnership. New Balance presented the Tyrese Maxey Hero Pack — a collection that included a basketball shoe (New Balance Hesi Low v2) and a lifestyle shoe (New Balance 1906R) inspired by Maxey’s love of comic books.
There hasn’t yet been any information made available on when Maxey’s shoe will release and what it will look like, so stay tuned.
Online speculation about whether Maxey and Edgecombe liked each other started after a defensive miscommunication in the first quarter of Friday’s loss to Cleveland led to an open Donovan Mitchell three. Maxey and Edgecombe were caught on the bench having what appeared to be a heated conversation after the play.
But on Monday, after Maxey was named an All-Star starter, Edgecombe was the first person to reach out to him — telling reporters he set a 2 p.m. alarm just to make sure he found out right away whether Maxey had been named a starter so he could congratulate him.
Edgecombe woke up Maxey from his pregame nap trying to call him.
“I’m like, why is he calling me?” Maxey said pregame. “And I answer, and he’s screaming and showing me the TV. And I’m like, ‘OK.’ We chopped it up a little bit.”
And postgame, the two Sixers guards were having fun after the 113-104 win over the Pacers.
Nick Nurse thought back to the 76ers’ preseason trip to Abu Dhabi, and how a multitude of injuries (again) forced him to cobble the rotation together for two exhibition games against the New York Knicks.
“I’d be pretty happy that we’re here right now,” the coach said of his former self late Monday.
“Here” is a 23-18 record at the regular season’s halfway point following a 113-104 home victory over the Indiana Pacers. Nurse acknowledged he is still irked by the handful of close games he believes the Sixers gave away. The roster, meanwhile, still feels like a work in progress after finally reaching full availability earlier this month.
But the Sixers are considered one of the NBA’s pleasant surprises, entering Tuesday in fifth place in the crowded Eastern Conference standings where 1½ games separate third and seventh.
“Probably would have taken this at the start of the season, for sure,” Nurse said. “And, hopefully, a couple more [health] dominoes can fall here as we go on.”
In that spirit, here is a collection of second-half goals for the Sixers’ rotation players.
Tyrese Maxey: Make the MVP ballot
When Maxey received “M-V-P!” chants at the free throw line during an early-season home game, he told Joel Embiid, “I don’t know how you do this.”
Maxey has been worthy of such serenading from spectators while making another significant leap in his sixth season. The 25-year-old point guard was named an All-Star starter Monday afternoon, as the top American vote-getter. That naturally makes him an All-NBA contender.
One step beyond those potential accolades? Getting onto MVP ballots, a race that could become more open if Nikola Jokić, the three-time winner of the sport’s top individual award and this season’s early favorite, falls under the 65-game eligibility threshold because of a recent knee injury. Maxey was seventh in the first ESPN straw poll, which surveys 100 eligible voters, released on Dec. 19.
For good reason. Maxey entered Tuesday ranked third in the NBA in scoring (30.2 points per game) while also setting career highs in assists (6.7 per game) and rebounds (4.4 per game). He is shooting 40% from three-point range and 47.5% from the floor, on 22.3 attempts per game as a multidimensional bucket-getter. He has become more of a defensive playmaker, averaging 2.1 steals per game — including a career-high eight in Monday’s win over the Pacers — and turning several into blazing finishes at the opposite end. And he is doing this while leading the league in minutes played, at 39.4 per game.
Some of these numbers could dip slightly if Embiid and Paul George can stay healthy, taking some of that load off the relentless Maxey. And a tough two-game stint against the Cavaliers — he went a combined 14-of-39 from the floor in consecutive losses — demonstrates he still faces a learning curve as the focal point of opposing defenses.
But Embiid was correct in nicknaming Maxey “The Franchise” years ago. If Maxey is the leader of a Sixers team that shifts from resurgent to legitimate East threat, he will need to get used to those chants.
Joel Embiid and Paul George: More dunks!
Following a Jan. 3 win at the New York Knicks, Embiid’s first dunk of the season was a popular topic. Nurse quipped that it occurring with a win secured in the final seconds “was a pretty cheap way of getting it … but at least we know he can still dunk.” When VJ Edgecombe learned that Embiid had not dunked since last season, the rookie’s reaction was “Oh my God.”
The celebration is not as much about the act itself, but the ongoing physical progress it signifies.
Ditto for Embiid more often stepping to center court for the opening tipoff. Or that he has played in 10 of 11 games since Dec. 30, including logging 40 minutes for the first time since the 2024 playoffs in a Jan. 5 overtime loss to Denver. During this stretch, he has averaged 27.4 points on 51.6% shooting with 7.6 rebounds, 4 assists, and noticeably improved elevation and mobility as a defender and rim protector.
And by the time the Sixers won in Toronto on Jan. 12, Embiid was throwing down one-handed dunks in traffic.
“I’ve made a lot of strides since the beginning of the season,” Embiid said Monday. “I’m back to, probably say, All-Star level and getting back to that All-NBA level and MVP level each and every day. Just got to keep it going.”
George, who battled numerous injuries during a disappointing first season in Philly, can relate. Though he has been most dangerous this season as a three-point shooter (37% on 6.3 attempts per game entering Tuesday), he said his body also feels (and looks) better as a versatile complementary player on both ends.
“Those small things,” George said. “It’s like stuff that I can check off like, ‘All right, I’m able to do this again. I’m able to dunk again. I’m able to explode again.’ So it’s just the small gains that just keep you going.”
Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker: Secure an NBA standard contract
While sitting inside a restaurant during the Las Vegas Summer League, Sixers president of basketball operations Daryl Morey said he believed the front office had been savvy in leveraging two-way contracts to sign helpful players in Dominick Barlow and Jabari Walker.
Morey was more than correct. Barlow has been the Sixers’ breakout player, lauded for his knack for crashing the boards and cutting while averaging 8.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists as the starting power forward. Walker is a high-energy rebounder (3.4 in 12.9 minutes per game), and has played in 39 of the Sixers’ 41 games.
“Those two guys just go out and play hard,” Nurse said Monday, “and have a lot of fun just giving everything they have.”
Both have certainly outplayed their two-way status, which primarily is designed for young, developing players to split time between the NBA and G League. The Sixers will aim to maximize the NBA games Barlow and Walker still have available before converting either (or both) to a standard contract. Because of a quirk for teams that do not fill their entire 15-man roster (the Sixers had 14 players signed to standard contracts as of late Monday), Barlow and Walker have a combined six active games with the Sixers remaining.
“We kind of have that respect for each other,” Walker said recently. “… This is new to both of us, so we don’t let the two-way define us. We just know we’re both big pieces and we have similar styles sometimes with our energy. We talk about how we can be effective as a team, and how we can both bring more energy.”
The Feb. 5 trade deadline could present an opportunity to free up another full roster spot. Kelly Oubre Jr., Andre Drummond, Eric Gordon, and Kyle Lowry are on expiring contracts.
Andre Drummond and Adem Bona: Stay ready
That sports cliche is in the air throughout the Sixers’ roster, as Nurse experiments with various personnel combinations with a healthier group. It is most applicable to the two centers behind Embiid. The roles for Drummond and Bona have ranged from starter to backup to completely out of the rotation.
With Embiid now (seemingly) able to play more consistently, matchups, foul trouble, and other factors could determine when exactly Drummond or Bona see the floor.
Drummond appeared to be in the midst of a resurgent season but has looked more limited at times since a late-November knee injury. Bona’s early-season minutes were more sporadic before he recently regained the backup spot. There have been games when one player took the first-half stint and the other held that role in the second half.
Sixers center Adem Bona has shared the backup spot behind Joel Embiid with Andre Drummond.
“We’ve got to do it by feel,” Nurse said. “But I think they’re not alone in that. That’s what we’re doing [with multiple players] almost every night as coaches. … We’re always, every night, trying to figure out which guy fits that moment of the game. It’s really moment-to-moment. It’s just kind of the way it is.”
Nurse said last week that, in the games Embiid does not play, he would prefer to start Drummond and bring Bona off the bench because of the way opponents typically go smaller with their backup frontcourt players.
On last month’s holiday road trip, Nurse even tried Embiid and Bona on the floor together. Bona said that making that partnership effective is one of his primary goals moving forward.
VJ Edgecombe: Embrace the grind
At halftime of a Jan. 5 loss to the Denver Nuggets, Embiid asked Edgecombe if he was taking the day off.
Then the rookie turned another quiet start into a fabulous finish on both ends of the floor. He flashed his rare blend of athleticism and poise while scoring 17 points after the break, and finished with a career-high nine assists and a slew of impact defensive moments.
This feels like a key stretch for Edgecombe, who has already surpassed the total games he played during his one college season at Baylor — and entered Tuesday ranked eighth in the NBA in minutes (35.7). He acknowledged some early-season fatigue before a calf injury. Now, he is entering the NBA doldrums before the All-Star break and, after that, a playoff push.
After that night against Denver, Edgecombe connected on 5-of-6 three-point attempts in a Jan. 12 win at the Raptors. He has taken on more ballhandling responsibility. He has guarded All-NBA guard Donovan Mitchell. But he also took only five shots in that Friday loss to the Cavaliers.
“I was the first person that went up to him [after that game],” Maxey said of Edgecombe, “and told him, like, ‘Dude, you shooting five times in a basketball game is not going to cut it for us. You’ve got to be up to 10, 12. You’ve got to be aggressive.’ Man, that’s my dog. That’s my little brother.”
On the season, Edgecombe is averaging 15.6 points, 5.3 rebounds, 4.3 assists, and 1.5 steals. He must embrace the grind, because the Sixers are counting on his electric impact to persist into the spring.
Kelly Oubre Jr.: Recapture the early-season flow
Oubre quickly got downhill for the Sixers’ first bucket of Monday’s victory, igniting an outing when he totaled 18 points and a season-high five assists.
He looked like the player Oubre was before a mid-November knee injury, when he arguably was putting together the best basketball of his career in his 11th NBA season. He was in more control with the ball in his hands, averaging 16.8 points on 49.7% shooting in 12 games. And he relished taking on challenging perimeter defensive assignments.
Sixers guard Kelly Oubre Jr. looked more like himself as he scored 18 points against the Pacers.
Oubre has been back for six games, initially with understandable rust. He has committed to allowing his defensive energy to ignite his offense. He gained some momentum in a Jan. 11 loss at Toronto (13 points, five rebounds, four steals, three blocks), and then put up 12 points as part of the closing lineup in Friday’s loss to Cleveland.
It will be critical for Oubre to maintain that patience and understanding with himself, rather than reverting to old habits.
“He’s done a good job of just kind of easing his way back in,” Maxey said of Oubre on Monday, “and I feel like letting the game come to him.”
Quentin Grimes: Make a Sixth Man of the Year push
Grimes was never going to be the high-volume scorer and lead ballhandler he was after the Sixers’ acquired him at last season’s trade deadline, then shifted into tank mode. But Grimes’ first full season in Philly has been spotty, at times.
After a December shooting slump, Grimes rediscovered his touch at the end of the Sixers’ holiday road trip. Since then, he has hit double figures in scoring in only two of the Sixers’ last six games. He entered Tuesday ranked sixth in that category among players with double-digit games played off the bench (14.2 points), while adding 4.1 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and a willingness to defend.
Grimes will often be in the closing lineup, where the Sixers can utilize their guard depth. But being that initial, consistent spark off the bench — which could lead to Sixth Man of the Year consideration — is another worthwhile goal.
One nugget: Grimes is now eligible to be traded, and has veto power on any proposed deal after signing his one-year qualifying agreement in October.
Trendon Watford and Jared McCain: Squeeze back into the rotation
Watford was regarded as a sneaky-good offseason signing because of his versatility as a “point” forward. Hamstring and thigh injuries have limited him to 20 games, though one was a triple-double against the Raptors.
Watford is beginning to crack the rotation minutes again, totaling four points, two rebounds, and two assists while setting the pace as an additional ballhandler on Friday against Cleveland.
He played another 12 minutes Monday against Indiana, with two points on 1-of-4 shooting.
“Being able to play a lot of positions and play with different lineups, I think I can do,” Watford said Saturday of that reintegration process. “I just try to keep building off of that. Obviously, the team has something going right now, so I’m just trying to integrate my way back into it with my style of play and my game. It’s a process, but it’s slowly getting there.”
Sixers forward Trendon Watford was considered a sneaky good offseason addition in free agency.
The opposite has happened for McCain, whose road back from knee and thumb surgeries has been choppy. His minutes have diminished as the Sixers’ roster returned to health, eventually falling out of the rotation Friday against Cleveland. The next day, he was assigned to the G League’s Delaware Blue Coats for the second time since his return. He was back in Philly in time for Monday’s matchup against Indiana, but he played only the final 47 seconds.
The former Rookie of the Year front-runner is shooting 35.4% from the floor, and has recently passed up some wide-open looks. His struggles even carried to the G League, where he went 5-of-18 from the floor (and had six turnovers) in the Blue Coats’ loss at the Noblesville Boom on Sunday.
“We’re just trying to get him some extended run,” Nurse said of McCain. “ … I don’t think he’s had much of a runway to play consistently.”
Jay Wright saw enough of Collin Gillespie a few nights before to invite him to Villanova on a Monday in January 2017 and offer him a scholarship. But this was hardly a courtship. Wright told Gillespie that he would redshirt his freshman season, maybe play as a junior, and then have a complementary role as a fifth-year senior.
“I thought he would get his master’s degree and be a great coach one day,” Wright said. “I was thinking ‘I would love to have this guy on my staff.’”
Gillespie — who has molded himself into an NBA starter with the Phoenix Suns after going undrafted in 2022 — nodded along. He didn’t have a Division I scholarship before his senior year at Archbishop Wood and declined to visit Division II schools because he believed bigger programs would eventually see what he already knew: He could play. Redshirt? OK. Bench player? Sure. Coach? Yes, sir.
“I didn’t really believe him,” said Gillespie, who will play against the 76ers on Tuesday night. “I believed in myself. I was just like, ‘Whatever he says, I’ll take it and then prove him wrong.’”
There was Gillespie 15 months later on the court for Wright in the national championship game, taking a charge against Michigan and looking the part. In his fifth year, the kid who had to wait for college scholarships was named the nation’s top point guard in 2022. He went undrafted that June but landed a non-guaranteed contract in July with the Denver Nuggets. He was on track.
Three weeks later, Gillespie suffered a broken right leg while playing in a pickup game at Villanova.
His NBA career — the one that is now flourishing — seemed unlikely then to nearly everyone except the guy who nodded along that day in Wright’s office.
“Everyone has their own journey,” Gillespie, 26, said. “Everyone runs their own race. You just have to stick to what you do, put your head down, and work hard. Don’t compare yourself to anyone else. If you work hard enough, you can probably achieve anything you want to.”
Collin Gillespie (right) became much more than a fifth-year senior role player first envisioned by Villanova coach Jay Wright.
G League to the league
Andre Miller often learned via text messages which players would be flying nearly three hours from Denver to join his G League team that night. He coached the Grand Rapids Gold, the Nuggets’ minor-league affiliate in Michigan that played 1,100 miles from Denver. Those morning flights gave Gillespie a chance to get on the court.
“It wasn’t a good recipe for these guys to be successful, but when he did show up, he didn’t want to come out of the game,” said Miller, who played three of his 17 NBA seasons with the Sixers. “We knew we had to leave him out there because he didn’t have an opportunity with the other team and he took great advantage of it.”
Gillespie feared that the Nuggets would void his contract after he suffered that injury playing at Villanova. That’s the first thing he said to his father, who was in the gym when it happened. But they didn’t. They kept him around that first season while he rehabbed and then split his time the next season between Denver and Grand Rapids.
“There was no ego,” Miller said. “One thing that’s tough to deal with is when your career is in the hands of other people. Some people felt like he wasn’t an NBA player and some people felt like he was an NBA player. The one thing that stood out about him to me is that he’s a competitor. He’s a dog. He’s a guy who enjoys playing basketball. He’s a leader. He plays with a chip on his shoulder.
“I wish I could have coached him more in the G League, but he was an NBA player. I knew that from the first time I saw him on the court with the G League players. I was like, ‘He probably won’t be here much.’”
Gillespie signed before last season with the Suns, again splitting time between the NBA and the G League. The 6-foot-1 guard earned a full-time role this season, starting for the Suns and fitting in with pesky defense and a three-point shot. Just like college, it took time before Gillespie’s game was appreciated.
“You just don’t see it initially. He doesn’t wow you,” Wright said. “But when you see him play over time and you realize this guy is getting to the rim and finishing, he’s elevating on his jumper and shooting over bigger guys, and he’s not getting backed down. You almost need to have time to believe what you’re watching.”
Collin Gillespie is shooting 41.4% from three-point range for the Suns.
Gillespie entered Monday’s game against Brooklyn averaging 13.2 points, 4.9 assists, and shooting 41.4% from three-point range. He hit a game-winner at the buzzer in November, regularly finds ways to create his own shot, and has proved that his game fits in the NBA.
Kevin Durant called him “a dog” and Anthony Edwards said after a loss to the Suns last season that “No. 12 is pretty good at basketball.” Two NBA superstars could see what Gillespie always believed: He belongs.
“He has more heart than talent,” said his father, Jim. “The kid just doesn’t want to lose. When he sets his mind to something, he just does it. And ultimately, he’s a winner. Wherever he’s gone, he’s won. At every level.”
Jay Wright says Collin Gillespie came to Villanova with a “killer mentality and stone face that we try to teach.”
Change of plans
Gillespie was in the stands for a Villanova game as a senior in high school, seated behind the La Salle bench at the Palestra. The Explorers invited him and Gillespie thought a scholarship offer was near.
“But they never offered,” Jim Gillespie said.
Gillespie eventually landed smaller Division I offers as a senior, but he was hopeful a Big 5 school would have a spot for him. None of them did until January when Villanova assistant Ashley Howard urged Wright to watch Gillespie play a game against five-star recruit Quade Green’s Neumann Goretti squad at Archbishop Ryan.
The Northeast Philly gym was packed and the coach couldn’t stay long as he was being hounded. Howard called Wright while he was driving home and told the coach that one kid scored 42 and the other kid scored 31. Wright figured the 42 points belonged to Green, who was already committed to Kentucky. It was Gillespie, the assistant said. Wright was sold.
“Nothing was spectacular, and he’s not bringing any attention to himself,” Wright said. “He just makes the right plays.”
Wright called Gillespie’s father and told him he needed his son at Villanova on Monday. The coach gave Gillespie his pitch that day without any guarantees.
“We left and we were like, ‘What are you going to do?’” his mother, Therese, said. “He said, ‘I’m going to play out my senior [year].’ I said, ‘Collin, it’s Jay Wright.’ He said, ‘Mom, I know what I’m doing.’”
Gillespie committed a week later, simply deciding after a game at Bonner-Prendergast that he had enough of the recruiting trail. He was headed to ’Nova and told a Wood coach without first running it by his parents. Gillespie knew what he was doing.
“He always said, ‘I’ll bet on myself,’” Jim Gillespie said. “He put the work in and the effort in and that’s what he’s always done.”
It took Gillespie just a few weeks to force Wright to rethink the plan that he would redshirt. Every day in practice that June he went up against Jalen Brunson and held his own.
Collin Gillespie (left) got to play in practice against future NBA players Donte DiVincenzo (center) and Jalen Brunson (right) at Villanova.
“He came in with that killer mentality and stone face that we try to teach,” Wright said. “But he came in with that. Then he spent every day with Jalen Brunson and it just became reinforced. It was so obvious. The coaching staff, behind closed doors, was going, ‘This kid is going against Brunson every day. He’s pretty good.’”
Gillespie suffered a minor injury that month and Wright checked with athletic trainer Jeff Pierce to see how the freshman was feeling. He was fine, the trainer said.
“The trainer said, ‘You’re not redshirting this kid,’” Wright said. “I said, ‘Is it that obvious?’ He said ‘Yeah, everyone knows.’ Yeah, it was.”
The guy who nodded along in Wright’s office proved that he belonged. Now, he’s doing it again in the NBA.
“It’s the way I was raised and where I come from,” said Gillespie, who grew up in Pine Valley before moving to Huntington Valley. “My brother is a year older, so I always played a year up. I had to play against older guys and was always smaller. I always had to prove myself and had a chip on my shoulder. My parents always believed in me and my family always believed in me and taught me to believe in myself.”
The 76ers must play with a sense of urgency against bad and/or undermanned teams.
Tyrese Maxey is a newly minted Eastern Conference NBA All-Star starter. But the Sixers point guard, and coach Nick Nurse, believe he has more to give.
And the Sixers need more production from their bench.
These things stood out in Monday’s 113-104 victory over the Indiana Pacers at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
Lack of energy
Maxey and Joel Embiid’s play, especially late in the game, enabled the Sixers (23-18) to avoid an embarrassing loss to the Pacers (10-34).
Maxey scored 14 of his 29 points in the fourth quarter. The 6-foot-2, 200-pounder also had four assists and four steals while playing 10 minutes, 35 seconds in the quarter.
In the quarter, Maxey was able to get to the paint more frequently and finish at the rim.
“We kind of opened the court up a little bit,” he said. “Me and Joel didn’t play a lot of two-man game. So it’s kind of like just getting him the ball, coming off screens, and doing that.”
But before Embiid reentered the game with 5:01 remaining, Maxey was paired with Quentin Grimes, Jabari Walker, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Adem Bona.
“And with that unit, I know I have to be ultra-aggressive for myself, for my teammates as well, getting to the paint, kicking it out, generating threes. That’s what I tried to do. Got a couple of corner threes with that group, and that’s good offense for us.”
For the game, Maxey made 12 of 24 shots to go with eight assists, four rebounds, a career-high eight steals, and one block.
“I was just trying to be aggressive, you know, make plays for my teammates,” Maxey said of his steals. “I think it gets us going when we get out in the open court [after stealing the ball] and get some easy baskets.”
Meanwhile, Embiid scored nine of his 30 points in the fourth quarter. The center also finished with nine rebounds and four assists.
But it was like the Sixers fell into a deep slumber against the Pacers before they took over.
Sixers center Joel Embiid poured in 30 points in a combeack win Monday over Indiana.
At the start of the game, they looked like a well-oiled machine.
Embiid had 10 points on 5-for-5 shooting. Oubre, who started in place of Paul George, had six points on 3-for-3 shooting. And Dominick Barlow had the other two points on 1-for-2 shooting, as the Sixers had an 18-15 lead with 6:19 remaining in the first quarter. They had made 9 of 12 shots at the time.
They couldn’t shake the Pacers and clung to a 33-30 lead heading into the second quarter. And things only got worse for the Sixers in the second. They shot 26.3% and trailed by as many as 10 points against the NBA’s second-worst team. Much of the defending Eastern Conference champions’ struggles are down to injuries.
On Monday, they were without Tyrese Haliburton (right Achilles tendon tear), Bennedict Mathurin (sprained right thumb), and Obi Toppin (right foot stress fracture).
The Sixers struggled through 3-for-13 three-point shooting over the first three quarters. They ended up making 5 of 17.
But struggling against an undermanned squad isn’t uncommon.
On Jan. 5, they put forth an inexcusable effort against a Denver Nuggets team playing without its entire starting lineup and three key reserves.
This time, the Sixers woke up from their slumber and escaped with a nine-point victory. But they need to do a better job of putting teams away that have no business competing with them.
Maxey impacted the game in many ways on Monday. But the belief is that the sixth-year veteran is just scratching the surface.
“I think I’m most definitely nowhere close to where I could be, as far as basketball-wise,” Maxey said. “I feel like I can keep getting better. And my thing is I just want to be better. You know what I’m saying, for my teammates, for this organization, my family. And I know I have a coach, an organization, and teammates who believe in me. And when you have that, it kind of pushes you to be even better than what you are.”
Right now, he must do a better job of adjusting when teams trap him. But Maxey is most proud of his leadership and the strides he’s made on defense. He was a good defender growing up. But he’s found that the transition to the NBA has been more challenging.
Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey had a career-high eight steals in Monday’s win.
“I feel like I figured it out a little bit on how to be impactful,” he said, “and impact the game on the [defensive] end of the floor.”
But even though he needs to regain his rhythm, Maxey is in the midst of a career season.
He is third in the league in scoring (30.2 points per game), second in steals (2.1), and 15th in assists (6.7). He is also fourth in made three-pointers (140), and has scored at least 30 points in 19 of 39 games.
“We’re trying to give him every opportunity to be aggressive and go do his thing,” Nurse said. “And he’s very talented. And I keep saying there’s still a lot of room for growth, which I think is exciting.”
The Sixers were outscored 35-14 in bench points, and even that was misleading. They only had eight heading into the fourth quarter.
Grimes had five points on 1-for-7 shooting. Walker had five while making 2 of 5 shots. He was, by far, the most productive reserve, finishing with six rebounds and four steals. Bona (two points, 1-for-2 shooting) and Trendon Watford (two points, 1-for-4 shooting) were the other bench scorers.
Justin Edwards and Jared McCain didn’t attempt a shot after playing only the final 47 seconds. But the Sixers must get more production out of their bench if they expect to remain competitive.
When Tyrese Maxey first learned he could become an NBA All-Star Game starter, the 76ers point guard said it would be cool.
He talked about watching Joel Embiid start in an All-Star Game and how much he enjoyed watching his teammate’s experience.
“So if I’m blessed with the opportunity, I definitely won’t take it for granted,” Maxey said on Dec. 29.
The opportunity has become a reality.
Maxey learned Monday that he was named an Eastern Conference starter for the 2026 NBA All-Star Game.
The starters were announced shortly after 2 p.m. on NBC/Peacock before the tipoff of the nationally televised game between the Oklahoma City Thunder and Cleveland Cavaliers. The All-Star reserves, selected by the league’s coaches, will be announced at a later date. The game will be played on Feb. 15 at the Intuit Dome in Inglewood, Calif.
“I’m very thankful for it, blessed,” Maxey said before Monday’s game against the Indiana Pacers at Xfinity Mobile Arena. “I appreciate everybody who voted for me, the people who believed in me. I’m thankful for my teammates, this organization for allowing me to kind of lead them and try to be a better version of a franchise and organization they were last year.”
Usually taking his pregame nap at 2 p.m., Maxey was asleep when the All-Star Game starters were revealed. But he could hear his ringer going off while teammate VJ Edgecombe tried to call him multiple times.
“I’m like, why is he calling me?” he said. “And I answer, and he’s screaming and showing me the TV. And I’m like, ‘OK.’ We chopped it up a little bit. I was thankful for that. Then my mom called me, and then I said, ‘Listen, I’m going back to sleep. I have work tonight.’
“But I’m thankful, man. I’m just thankful that my support system and everybody who is around me, and my very thankful for that.”
Maxey becomes the first Sixers guard selected to start an All-Star Game since Hall of Famer Allen Iverson in 2010. Iverson, however, did not play because his daughter, Messiah, was ill. The last time the Sixers had a player voted to start in the event was Embiid in 2024. He didn’t play because of a torn meniscus in his left knee.
Maxey made his first All-Star team that season as a reserve. But after missing the cut last season, he’ll be a two-time All-Star.
Fans accounted for 50% of the vote to determine the 10 starters. A media panel and NBA players each accounted for 25% of the vote. This season, All-Stars are selected regardless of position.
Tyrese Maxey is lifted up by Adem Bona after the Sixers beat the Golden State Warriors on Dec. 4.
Denver Nuggets center and three-time MVP Nikola Jokić and Milwaukee Bucks forward and two-time MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo are the leading vote-getters in their respective conferences.
The starters from the Eastern Conference are Maxey, Antetokounmpo, New York Knicks point guard and former Villanova standout Jalen Brunson, Detroit Pistons point guard Cade Cunningham, and Boston Celtics small forward Jaylen Brown.
“I guess you could say it’s one of the goals for sure, but my main goal is for us to win,” Maxey said of being a starter. “The rest of that will come. I feel like if I’m healthy and we can win games and stay afloat and try to get to a playoff spot and do something special there, all of the accolades and all that stuff will appear.”
For the Western Conference, the starters are Jokić, Los Angeles Lakers point guard Luka Dončić, Golden State Warriors point guard Stephen Curry, Oklahoma City Thunder point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama.
Maxey finished second in the fan voting among Eastern Conference players. He was third in the media voting and fifth in the player voting.
The sixth-year veteran’s 2,941,622 fan votes were the most by an American player.
“Thanks, fellow Americans,” Maxey said upon hearing the news. “I appreciate y’all. That’s love. I appreciate y’all.”
The Texas native said he’s “blessed” to earn that type of popularity.
“I have great teammates, great organization that believes in me,” Maxey said. “I just give grace to God every single morning to be able to at least wake up and do what I love every single day. And I just work extremely hard to be in this position.”
Under a new format, the All-Star Game will feature a U.S. vs. World competition, consisting of two teams of U.S. players and one team of international players in a round-robin tournament featuring four 12-minute games.
It’s not surprising that Maxey was voted an All-Star starter.
He entered Monday third in the league in scoring (30.3 points per game), tied for third in steals (1.9), and 15th in assists (6.7). He’s also fourth in made three-pointers (139), and has scored at least 30 points in 19 of 38 games.
“Look at his stats and what he’s been doing the whole season,” teammate Quentin Grimes said. “From Game 1 to Game 41 today, he’s been probably a top-three player in the league right now. So just seeing him go out every night has been really fun to go out there and watch.”
Maxey’s season highlight came Nov. 20 when he scored a career-high 54 points, to go with nine assists, five rebounds, three steals, and three blocks in a 123-114 overtime victory over the Bucks. He joined Hall of Famer Wilt Chamberlain (March 18, 1968) as the only players in franchise history to produce at least 50 points and nine assists in a game.
Sixers point guard Tyrese Maxey finished second in the Eastern Conference fan voting, third in media voting and fifth in player voting. Here are NBA All-Star Starters Voting Results: pic.twitter.com/WjMC8hGLpv
Monday’s game against the Toronto Raptors showed who the 76ers could be.
Wednesday and Friday’s matchups against the Cleveland Cavaliers revealed who they are currently.
As much as their talent level has improved because of health and key offseason additions, these Sixers still don’t know which version of themselves will show up on any particular night, a reality they were reminded of in a 117-115 loss to the Cavs on Friday night at Xfinity Mobile Arena.
With Cleveland playing without two-time All-Star Darius Garland (right big toe soreness) and key reserve Sam Merrill (sprained right hand), the Sixers should have been able to make up ground on the fourth-place Raptors (25-18). Instead, they’re seventh in the standings.
Fortunately for the Sixers (22-18), there are 42 games remaining in the regular season.
But if it concluded today, they would be bound for the play-in tournament for the second time in three seasons. Last year, the Sixers missed the postseason entirely. And with Joel Embiid, Paul George, and Jared McCain over last season’s injuries, the hope was that the squad would be a contender in the East.
At times, they appear to be. But this season has been a roller coaster of inconsistency.
The Sixers will resume play at home Monday against the Indiana Pacers in a Martin Luther King Jr. Day game (6 p.m., NBCSP). On paper, they should defeat the Pacers, who have the NBA’s second-worst record of 10-33.
Entering this week’s games, it’s unclear if Joel Embiid (21) will play against the Pacers or the Suns.
But there are several questions the Sixers will face.
Will Embiid and George play against Indiana or on Tuesday versus the Phoenix Suns, given they haven’t been cleared to play on both nights of back-to-backs?
Can they resemble the Sixers squad that rarely missed a shot while scoring 80 first-half points in Monday’s 115-102 victory over the Raptors at Scotiabank Arena?
Or will they come out sluggish and fail to match their opponent’s intensity, as they did in Wednesday’s 133-107 loss to the Cavs (24-19)?
And will they’ll fail to close out the game as they did in Friday’s loss and in several other winnable games?
“I think seven or eight [games] this year, where we just had [it] in our hands and then slip away,” Tyrese Maxey said. “Two Detroit games up in the fourth quarter, let them slip away. Chicago [on Nov. 16], same thing. Two of those games, let them slip, and Toronto as well [on Sunday]. Both times, had them beat, kind of let the game slip away. It’s probably more. Just those are the ones that come on top of my head, but those hurt.”
On Friday, the Sixers had an 11-point cushion with 8 minutes, 47 seconds remaining. After the teams traded baskets, the Sixers missed six straight shots, as Cleveland tied the score at 102.
The Sixers responded by making four consecutive baskets to build a 111-104 cushion with 3:53 left. But they fell apart down the stretch, turning the ball over before missing five of their final six shots.
Something to remember: The Sixers have only played with a full complement of key players in their last six games. Even that’s a bit misleading, with Dominick Barlow leaving early in the third quarter of Wednesday’s game with a bruised back. That ugly setback came after the Sixers briefly looked like they’d turned the corner.
On Monday, the Sixers were on top of their game against the Raptors as the ball moved freely and they boasted balanced scoring. Maxey finished with a game-high 33 points on 10-for-16 shooting. Rookie VJ Edgecombe, his backcourt mate, added 15 points while making 5 of 6 three-pointers.
But the standout duo, considered among the league’s best young backcourts, failed to have the same scoring impact against Cleveland. Edgecombe had nine points on 3-for-10 shooting on Wednesday — and missed five of six three-pointers. He finished with 10 points on 4-for-5 shooting on Friday. However, only two of his shot attempts came after intermission. The shooting guard didn’t attempt a shot while logging 7:19 in the third quarter, and shot 1-for-2 while playing the entire fourth quarter.
Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey (0) averaged 18 points on 35.9% shooting in the past two games.
Meanwhile, Cleveland appears to be Maxey’s Kryptonite.
The point guard, an All-Star in 2023-24, entered Saturday as the league’s third-leading scorer at 30.3 points per game. However, he averaged 18 points on 35.9% shooting — including making just 4 of 16 three-pointers — in the past two games.
“They do a good job on all my ball screens, and they just put a lot of attention on me,” Maxey said of his struggles against the Cavs. “So it’s a lot of times, even when I’m coming off a ball screen with Joel, and Jarrett Allen’s guarding him … I’m throwing it back to Joel. So, I mean, that was that, and then I missed some good looks tonight.”
Maxey and the Sixers will attempt to regroup during this week’s games against the Pacers, Suns, Houston Rockets (Thursday), and New York Knicks (Saturday). They should have a great opportunity to climb up the standings with all four of those contests at home, but the Sixers are 10-11 at Xfinity and 12-7 on the road.
