Nicolas Batum's NBA career ends with a 76ers regret

Former Philadelphia 76ers forward Nicolas Batum called it a career.

This week, the French forward decided it was time to hang it up at 37 years old, after finishing up his second stint with the Los Angeles Clippers.

As Batum goes out, it's worth remembering the one admitted regret of his career, which relates to the 76ers star, Tyrese Maxey.

Batum leaves with one big 76ers regret

During a March 2026 episode of The Young Man and the Three, Batum stated that his only regret was not playing with Tyrese Maxey longer, and while he was younger.

Batum went on to explain that Maxey is his son's favorite player. Clearly, that means a lot to the former Sixers role player.

It's worth noting that Maxey tends to leave lasting impressions on plenty of the seasoned veterans he has played alongside. When a guy like James Harden is asked about the two-time All-Star, he's always complimentary about his former teammate.

And looking back at Kyle Lowry's stint with the 76ers, the veteran guard flat-out admitted that he didn't want to retire from the game in 2025 because he wanted to return to play for a team that Maxey was beginning to lead, as he continued to grow into a star and a leader for the franchise.

The Batum-Maxey connection could've been great

The reality is that Batum and Maxey's timelines would've never matched up. When Batum first entered the NBA, he was 20 years old in 2008.

By the time Maxey was drafted as a freshman out of the University of Kentucky, Batum was 32 and about to enter his 13th season in the league. Batum was still valuable at that point of his career, but his numbers were dipping from his earlier days in Portland and Charlotte.

When Batum was with the Blazers for seven seasons, he averaged 11.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.0 assists. In Charlotte, Batum produced averages of 12.1 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.9 assists over five years.

In the two years with the Clippers before the trade to the Sixers, Batum averaged 8.2 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 2.0 assists. Then, he was moved to Philadelphia in the deal that landed LA Harden and PJ Tucker.

The 57-game effort with the Sixers might not have been super memorable, but Batum was impressive as a role player. He shot 39.9% from three, putting up 5.5 points per game. He also came down with 4.2 rebounds per game and dished out 2.2 assists per game. The assists weren't high--but Batum was a sneaky-great passer for the Sixers that season.

Despite the 76ers showing interest in retaining Batum for the back end of his career, he packed up for LA once again. He returned to the Clippers for the final two years, which unfortunately didn't give the NBA two more years of a Maxey-Batum lineup.

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