March 9, 2026, 10:31 p.m. ET
CLEVELAND — As the Philadelphia 76ers move forward after a 115-101 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on Monday, the focus and concern is on the injury report.
The Sixers played that game without Joel Embiid, Paul George, Tyrese Maxey, and VJ Edgecombe as it was an uphill battle from the jump for Philadelphia. The loss drops the Sixers to 1.5 games back now of the Miami Heat and the Orlando Magic who are both tied for the No. 6 seed which represents the final guaranteed playoff spot in the East.
Maxey suffered his injury in Saturday’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks with 16 seconds left. The Sixers announced that he suffered a right finger sprain and he would miss the matchup against the Cavaliers as well as Tuesday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies back at home. He would then receive consultation on what the next step is.
“Yeah, obviously, it adds to the concern factor for sure,” said coach Nick Nurse before the matchup with the Cavaliers. “I mean, as you know, they got the imaging. There’s no breaks in there, but he still needs to see a specialist or two here to see where we’re going with it. No breaks is where we are now, and he won’t play tonight and tomorrow. We know that for sure, and then we’ll see where we are after.”
Maxey is in the midst of an All-Star season as he is averaging 29.0 points, 6.7 assists, and 4.1 rebounds while shooting 46.1% from the floor and 37.3% from deep. He has been a constant for the Sixers on a nightly basis so this is one of those moments where he is looking to get back to action as soon as possible.
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“He seems OK,” Nurse said of Maxey. “His spirits are good. He’s like, ‘I’ll be back.’ You know, he wants to be back. I mean, but we got to get him to see these people and see that, but he’s definitely in good spirits and wanting to get back ASAP.”
As far as Edgecombe is concerned, he suffered a lumbar contusion in a March 3 loss to the San Antonio Spurs and has missed the three games since. He was listed as questionable for the matchup with the Cavaliers and was on the court at shootaround before he was ruled out. Nurse said he’s day-to-day at this point and there is hope he can return sooner rather than later.
“There is,” Nurse said of Edgecombe. “He was on court again today, yeah. So, he’s literally day-to-day, and there is hope that he’ll be ready to go very soon.”
The Sixers will look to get back in the win column when they take on the Grizzlies on Tuesday.