As of writing, the Philadelphia 76ers only have nine games left on their schedule before they close the chapter on what has been a disastrous regular season. With their postseason hopes burned to ashes, they technically do not have anything to play for, nor any reason to try and carve out wins.
In all honesty, their season was effectively over the moment they started acting like a dysfunctional team when the calendar flipped to 2025. Philly went on multiple and lengthy losing streaks, and what was initially a mere striking distance between them and the play-in tournament has become a crevice they could not hop over.
Aside from the 76ers letting Quentin Grimes do his thing and basically hosting an audition for young players looking to snag some staying power for themselves in the city, there is hardly any concrete objective left for the team, although as you probably already know by now, there is something left for them to tick off on their checklist.
The 76ers continuing to sit Tyrese Maxey down only proves they are deliberately tanking
Ahead of their next game, the 76ers have already ruled Tyrese Maxey out, making him unavailable for the 14th straight contest. Maxey sprained his finger three weeks ago and since then, Philly has really slow-cooked things with their All-Star guard.
Having said that, Maxey can technically play — it’s just that the 76ers have something else in mind. He was a partial participant in practice just recently, yet by all indications, it seems like his season is already over.
This only bodes well for the team’s not-so-secret plan to lose as many games as possible before their campaign ends in order to maximize their odds in the upcoming draft lottery. After all, Maxey would obviously be an impediment to such a losing cause, and pairing him with Grimes, who has showed out as the nominal lead “star” would cause problems for opposing teams and accidentally give the 76ers unneeded wins, especially given their rather soft schedule to end the season.
If it’s still not apparent to anyone, the point we are arriving at is that the 76ers are finally deliberately tanking — and they are not hiding it anymore.
Of course, it sucks for fans that the next time they could see Tyrese Maxey on the hardwood would be next season, but for the benefit of the Philadelphia 76ers, what’s to sacrifice some gamesmanship for a shot at landing the next top prospect, right?