The Philadelphia 76ers have been using Tyrese Maxey off the bench of late. What started out as an easing-in period as he made his way back from injury is now a full-blown tactic being employed by Sixers head coach Doc Rivers.
Rivers initially stated that it was Maxey's idea to utilize him off the bench in order to stagger his offensive touches from that of James Harden. If he was indeed the mastermind behind the demotion, Maxey didn't exactly sound like it as he spoke out following the Sixers' win over the Los Angeles Clippers on Tuesday.
“Sometimes you just got to be the bigger person,” Tyrese Maxey said after a deep sigh. “I feel like it was kind of trending towards that way. But I'm a professional at the end of the day. I feel like I am a starter in this league, but our team is so good that I think we can have multiple people starting. At the end of the day, I played like 33 minutes so it is what it is.”
Based on Maxey’s post game press conference sounds like Doc was just lying lol pic.twitter.com/6ALBLK7FAf https://t.co/OsI4engGMn
— Subscribe to the You Know Ball Patreon (@TrillBroDude) January 17, 2023
There's no debate that Tyrese Maxey and James Harden are the Sixers' two most talented guards. Their fit together, however, isn't on the same level as their talent as overlapping skills make it difficult to trot both out there at times. Plugging in a guy like De'Anthony Melton to take on backcourt defensive assignments could be in Philly's favor as Maxey comes in as a sixth man. But it doesn't mean Tyrese has to be happy about it.
“We won. That's what matters,” said Maxey.
As long as the wins keep coming, it shouldn't be as much of an issue. A couple of losses might bring different responses, though.
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