Tyrese Maxey can’t afford to miss any of the Philadelphia 76ers’ training camp.
For most of the past decade, the Philadelphia 76ers have had a “rookie curse” of some sort. A large portion of the club’s star rookies end up having health issues of some sort during their first season. It started with Nerlens Noel, then was passed on to Joel Embiid, Jahlil Okafor, Ben Simmons, Markelle Fultz, and then Zhaire Smith. Now it continues with Tyrese Maxey.
According to Derek Bodner of The Athletic, Maxey is waiting to be cleared to return to training camp after testing positive for COVID-19. It should also be noted that veteran power forward Mike Scott is also tested positive for the disease, per Keith Pompey of The Inquirer.
While certainly having the Sixers’ “rookie curse” continue into the 2020s isn’t good, there doesn’t appear to be any long-term implications on either players’ health at the present moment. That being said, it’s not ideal for either to have a positive test, especially the team’s rookie.
Why Maxey missing Sixers training camp is bad.
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This NBA’s offseason is already very condensed, which is going to make things hard for the 76ers rookies. For Maxey, training camp was going to be especially important as it was presumed that he was going to have a prominent role off the bench to begin the season.
Depending on how long it takes Maxey to clear protocol to return to camp, it will have a huge impact on the rotation and how much head coach Doc Rivers can trust the 20-year-old to start off the bat. If Rivers doesn’t feel that the rookie is in playing shape or isn’t ready for a consistent role off the bench, then it could impact the point guard rotation to begin the season.
In the past, I wrote about how the backup point guard role would be by committee with Maxey leading the way with Seth Curry and Shake Milton helping along. If Maxey doesn’t start the season out in the rotation, then it could force Curry and Milton out of their comfort zones as playmakers.
Hopefully, the Philadelphia 76ers’ “rookie curse” passes over Maxey moving forward and he can return as soon as he passes protocal and feels healthy. However, missing part of training isn’t ideal for Maxey or the Sixers during this condensed offseason.