Josh Hart

Thibodeau Denies Having Conversation With Bridges About Starters’ Minutes

Knicks forward Mikal Bridges, the NBA’s leader in total minutes played this season, said on Wednesday that he has spoken to head coach Tom Thibodeau about the idea of dialing back the starters’ minutes to some extent and leaning more on the bench. Asked later in the day about that discussion, Thibodeau denied that it happened.

“We never had a conversation about it,” Thibodeau told reporters, including Stefan Bondy of The New York Post and James L. Edwards III of The Athletic.

Bridges, Josh Hart, and OG Anunoby are all among the top six in the NBA in terms of minutes per game, with Hart and Bridges occupying the top two spots on that leaderboard. Jalen Brunson ranks 19th, while Karl-Anthony Towns is 24th. Thibodeau, who has faced criticism over the years for the heavy workloads he assigns his top players, defended his approach ahead of Wednesday’s game in Portland.

“The facts are the facts. When you look at our team, and the way it works, Jalen plays 35 minutes, and I think he’s 20th or 21st in average minutes played,” Thibodeau said. “(Towns), who is a primary scorer, plays less than Jalen. He’s like 25th in the league in average minutes.

“Your wings play more, right? They’re matched up with primary scorers. The way it works, if Jayson Tatum is in the game or Jaylen Brown is in the game, OG will be in the game and Mikal will be in the game. When those guys go out, (our) guys go out. When they come back, (our guys) come back. We try to keep them matched up. If you look at the league, all those guys are playing 36, 37 minutes — whether it’s Durant, Tatum, Brown. The wings are going to play more. They are primary wings defenders. That’s the way it works.”

Thibodeau also pointed out that Bridges’ minutes have come down as of late. The veteran forward played 39.3 minutes per night through his first 35 games of the season; entering Wednesday, he had averaged 35.5 MPG in his previous 21 outings. While Wednesday’s contest vs. the Trail Blazers represented the seventh time Bridges has played 40-plus minutes since February 1, five of those games went to overtime.

According to Thibodeau, his starters’ playing time will likely remain a little below where it was during the first couple months of the season because the reserves are healthier at this point, with Mitchell Robinson and Landry Shamet among those now playing rotation roles.

“We’ve started the season with Landry hurt and (Miles McBride) not 100 percent. So our wings did play more,” Thibodeau said. “So are they playing a little bit more than I would like? Yeah. Probably 35 or 36 (minutes), and that’s where Mikal is if you look at the last 10 games — he’s playing 35 minutes per game and four of those games are overtime games. So that’s the reality. Now that Deuce is healthy, those minutes are going to come down. So that’s the way it is.”

Although Thibodeau didn’t sound thrilled to have to revisit the discourse about his player usage, the day ended on a positive note for both him and Bridges, who scored a team-high 33 points on 13-of-21 shooting and nailed a buzzer-beating three-pointer in overtime to give the Knicks a 114-113 win (Twitter video link).

“He was huge, huge,” Thibodeau said, per Edwards.

Knicks’ Bridges Says He’s Talked To Thibodeau About Reducing Starters’ Minutes

Knicks forward Mikal Bridges said on Wednesday that he has spoken to head coach Tom Thibodeau about dialing back his starters’ minutes to some extent, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post.

While Bridges acknowledged that the starters’ significant workload is one reason he broached the subject, he suggested it was more about his belief that the Knicks’ reserves are worthy of more playing time.

“Sometimes it’s not fun on the body,” Bridges said. “You’ll want that as a coach but also talked to him a little bit knowing that we’ve got a good enough team where our bench guys can come in and we don’t need to play 48, 47 (minutes). We’ve got a lot of good guys on this team that can take away minutes. Which helps the defense, helps the offense, helps tired bodies being out there and giving up all these points. It helps just keeping fresh bodies out there.”

Bridges has been an iron man since entering the NBA in 2018, playing in 538 out of 538 possible games, so it’s not as if he’s an advocate for load management.

But all five Knicks starters are among the top 25 NBA players in minutes per game, with Josh Hart and Bridges tied for first at 37.8 MPG. OG Anunoby (36.6 MPG) ranks sixth, while Jalen Brunson (35.4) is 20th and Karl-Anthony Towns (35.0) is 25th.

Miles McBride (24.1) and Precious Achiuwa (21.9) are the only reserves averaging more than 15 minutes per night, and Achiuwa has been in and out of the rotation since Mitchell Robinson made his season debut.

Thibodeau’s minutes distribution has long been a subject of debate, with his critics arguing that heavy workloads for his starters has caused those players to break down earlier in the season and made them more susceptible to injuries. Thibodeau’s own players have frequently defended his usage of them.

As for Bridges’ suggestion, the Knicks forward said his head coach was willing to take it into consideration.

“I think he’s not arguing about it. Sometimes I think he just gets in his ways and he gets locked in. He just wants to keep the guy out there,” Bridges said. “Sometimes you’ve got to tell him, like Landry (Shamet), for example or somebody, keep him out there, they’re playing well.”

Knicks Notes: McBride, Towns, Ewing, Anunoby, Hart

Miles McBride wasn’t happy with his first performance while replacing Jalen Brunson as the Knicks‘ starting point guard, writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. McBride, who’s expected to fill that role while Brunson recovers from a sprained right ankle, was limited to seven points while shooting 2-of-13 from the field in Friday’s loss to the Clippers.

“We didn’t win, so any time we don’t win, I don’t think I played well enough. I think anybody can always shoot the ball better. I think defensively there were some plays I could have had, probably could have come up with some more rebounds,” McBride said. “Full complete game, I feel like I could have upped it a lot more.”

The Knicks believe in McBride’s ability to run the offense while Brunson is sidelined, Bondy adds, noting that he did it for five games last season. It was a poor shooting night for the team overall, as New York was thrown off rhythm by L.A.’s switching defense.

“When he’s starting, the ball is in his hands more,” coach Tom Thibodeau said. “With the second unit, he was more off the ball and (Cameron Payne) handled more. But Deuce can do it. I’ve seen him have huge games there. So I have a lot of confidence in his ability.”

There’s more on the Knicks:

  • Karl-Anthony Towns is thrilled to be learning about the game from Knicks legend Patrick Ewing, who joined the team as a coaching consultant before the start of the season, Bondy states in another piece. Ewing has attended several games this year, including both contests last week in Los Angeles, and he was at Sunday’s practice. “You always learn a little bit here and then you ask him for that help and he’s been in the situations, especially here in New York,” Towns said. “So his wisdom is priceless and his game is obviously on a Hall of Fame level. So getting a chance to sit with him, talk with him about basketball, about what I can do to be better from my spot, is awesome.”
  • Extensive preparation enables OG Anunoby to excel on defense, according to James L. Edwards III of The Athletic. Anunoby spends a lot of time studying players’ tendencies when they have the ball and learning tricks by watching film of other elite defenders. “I like players who play hard on defense, so I’ll watch Alex Caruso and the stuff he’s doing — the active hands and aggressiveness,” Anunoby said. “If he’s doing this, I can do that, too.”
  • Josh Hart is trying to find the right balance between taking care of his aching knees and staying sharp on the court, per Steve Popper of Newsday. “It all depends,” Hart said. “I will take a couple of days off, feel good, go out and shoot for 10 minutes and then it swells up again. It’s just a constant process of playing, resting, getting that inflammation out, and then just cut and paste and keep doing it.”

Knicks Notes: Robinson, Hart, Towns, More

Knicks center Mitchell Robinson won’t make his season debut on Wednesday vs. Philadelphia, but he’s inching closer to returning from the ankle surgery that has sidelined him for all of 2024/25, writes Dan Martin of The New York Post. Head coach Tom Thibodeau said on Tuesday that the center has looked good and has been “very active” in workouts and practices.

While Robinson figures to be eased back into a rotation role, Thibodeau referred to the big man as an “elite” pick-and-roll defender, rim protector, and offensive rebounder and suggested that he would have been a significant part of the lineup if he had been healthy this season.

“I think you have to look at it and say, ‘OK, Mitch was projected to be the starting center on the team,'” Thibodeau said (Twitter video link). “So we’ve gone fifty-something games without our starting center. I think guys have done a really good job stepping in. Could we do better? I always believe we could do better.”

It’s unclear based on Thibodeau’s comments if he means Robinson was projected to be the Knicks’ starting center before the acquisition of Karl-Anthony Towns or if he envisioned starting the two big men alongside one another. Either way, that two-big look figures to be one the club experiments with once Robinson is available to return, and there’s hope that he’ll be able to help improve a unit that ranks 20th in the NBA this season in defensive rating (114.3).

Here’s more on the Knicks:

  • After missing two games due to a sore right knee, Josh Hart returned to action on Sunday and logged 40 minutes in a loss to Boston. After the game, he told reporters, including Stefan Bondy of the New York Post, that he felt as if the extended All-Star break would be good for his knee issue, which he explained in more detail. “It’s something that comes and goes, something that I’ve managed for a long (time) — one time (in 2020) I was in the bubble with New Orleans, I would play and the next day really I couldn’t even get to half-court,” Hart said. “It was a pain, it was a struggle for me to even jog to half-court, and now I’m playing 48 minutes for Tom Thibodeau. So there’s peaks and valleys with it. Not really worried about it. All the time I pray for it before every game. By his grace I’m healed so I go out there and play my game.”
  • Towns, who missed a pair of games in December and January with patellar tendinopathy in his right knee, had his knee issues flare up near the end of Sunday’s game vs. Boston and is listed as questionable to play on Wednesday due to left knee patellar tendinopathy, tweets Ian Begley of SNY.tv. When Towns was unavailable earlier this season, Jericho Sims typically moved into the starting lineup, but with Sims now in Milwaukee, Precious Achiuwa or Ariel Hukporti could fill that role if Towns is inactive.
  • The Knicks were blown out by Cleveland on Friday and Boston on Sunday and are now 0-5 on the season against the two teams ahead of them in the Eastern Conference standings, writes Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “We’re a work in progress,” Towns said on Sunday when asked how the Knicks stack up against those teams. “We’re going to be a work in progress all year until the day we step into the postseason.”
  • In a subscriber-only article for The New York Post, Mike Vaccaro argues that it’s time to sound the alarm on the Knicks’ ineffectiveness against the Cavaliers, Celtics, and Thunder. New York is 0-7 against those teams and has lost those games by an average of 20+ points per contest.

Knicks Notes: Hart, Anunoby, Robinson, Dadiet, Thibodeau

Josh Hart and OG Anunoby will be available as the Knicks face Boston this afternoon, according to Stefan Bondy of The New York Post (Twitter link). Both players went through pregame warmups before a final decision was made on their status.

Hart had been upgraded to questionable after sitting out the previous two games due to a bout with “runner’s knee.” Bondy notes that it’s the first time he has missed consecutive games since joining the Knicks. Anunoby played Friday at Cleveland after missing six games with a foot injury, but he was limited to five points and no rebounds and was a minus-23 in 27 minutes.

Mitchell Robinson will miss another game as he works his way back from offseason ankle surgery. He resumed practicing last week, but said earlier this month that he wants to make sure he’s fully ready before trying to play.

“I’ve just been taking my time. I want to make sure it’s 100 percent, I ain’t trying to keep having these sit-outs and setbacks and stuff like that,” Robinson said at the time. “This time, I’m just going to play it smart. Usually, I’d be young and dumb to go out there and try to get back as fast as I can. I can’t do that no more.”

Robinson’s goal is to return to action at some point within the next week, Shams Charania reported today on ESPN’s NBA Countdown (Twitter video link), adding that the big man has participated in multiple 5-on-5 scrimmages in recent days.

There’s more on the Knicks:

  • This season has been a learning process for first-round pick Pacome Dadiet, who is adjusting to the NBA after playing in Europe, Bondy writes for The New York Post. Even though he has spent much of the season in the G League, Dadiet doesn’t have any doubt that he can succeed at the NBA level. “I try to be focused and watch what others are doing, guys that have been in the league for like 10 years,” he said. “Having a routine is very important. Watching (Karl-Anthony Towns) and (Cameron Payne) doing the same thing every day. And it’s working for them.”
  • Tom Thibodeau has been criticized for relying too heavily on his starters ever since he became a head coach, but he doesn’t see any reason to change, Bondy adds in a separate story. The issue came up regarding Friday’s matchup with the Cavaliers, who use a deep rotation and only have two players averaging more than 30 minutes per night. “We’ve got to (have lineups that are) strong on both sides of the ball, and then, ‘Can your guys handle minutes?’” Thibodeau said. “There’s different minutes in the course of the game. If you look at Jalen (Brunson) and (Towns), their minutes are what other the main players are. The wings are different. OG is at 36 (minutes). Mikal (Bridges) is the highest, and Josh’s are high as well. Both of those guys can handle minutes, and they want the minutes. If they can handle the minutes, give it to them. If they can’t, cut it back.” 
  • The way the Knicks are constructed, they’ll need all five starters to be healthy to have any chance of making a long playoff run, opines Steve Popper of Newsday.

Atlantic Notes: Gordon, George, Holiday, Hart, McBride, Anunoby

Sixers wing Eric Gordon has been out since February 9 due to what the team is calling a sprained right wrist. When word broke that Lonnie Walker had agreed to sign with Philadelphia, Marc Stein reported that the team made the move in part because Gordon’s return from that wrist injury may not happen in the near future. Head coach Nick Nurse confirmed as much on Thursday.

“He’s seen two specialists, and they still don’t know what to do,” Nurse said, per Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports (Twitter link).

According to Nurse, Gordon is expected to receive more medical opinions on his wrist before he and the team decide on a treatment plan. While there’s a possibility the injury can be managed, there’s also a scenario in which it keeps the veteran shooting guard sidelined for a “long time,” Nurse acknowledged.

We have more from around the Atlantic:

  • In other Sixers injury news, forward Paul George confirmed last week’s report from Shams Charania, which said that he had been receiving injections in order to play through various health issues, including tendon damage in his finger. “I’m hanging in there,” George said on Thursday, according to Keith Pompey of The Philadelphia Inquirer. “I’m giving this team everything I have. The report is true. You know, I am taking some sorts of medicines to kind of, I guess, play through pain. But yeah, I’m going to try to give everything I got.” As Pompey writes, with George and Joel Embiid both at less than 100% and Philadelphia holding a 20-35 record, it would be “completely understandable” if the team decides to shut down its two stars for the season, though there has been no indication that will happen.
  • After missing the Celtics‘ last four games prior to the All-Star break due to a right shoulder issue, Jrue Holiday returned on Thursday and played 20 minutes in a win over Philadelphia. As Gary Washburn of The Boston Globe relays, Holiday said the injury had been nagging him “for a little bit,” but that it “feels really good” now after the team’s training staff insisted he take some time off. “Sometimes they’ve got to save you from yourself,” he said. “Especially for me, if it’s a game I want to play. You play through injuries, you play through being hurt but sometimes it’s smarter to take a little bit of time especially since we’re at the second half of the season. Obviously I would have played through it, which I feel a lot of us do, is play through injuries. All testament to the training staff.”
  • Knicks forward Josh Hart will miss a second consecutive game on Friday in Cleveland due to patellofemoral pain syndrome (runner’s knee), writes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. With Hart out on Thursday vs. Chicago, Miles McBride got his first start of the year and scored a season-high 23 points in a tight overtime win, as Peter Botte of The New York Post details.
  • While Hart will be out on Friday, another injured Knicks forward – OG Anunoby – is on track to return to action. Anunoby, who has been on the shelf since February 1 due to a sprained foot, is expected to be available vs. the Cavaliers, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).

Knicks Notes: Robinson, Anunoby, McBride, Hart, Towns, Shamet

The return of Mitchell Robinson and OG Anunoby to today’s practice gave the Knicks a fully healthy roster for the first time all season, writes Peter Botte of The New York Post. This was Robinson’s first time participating in a full practice with contact since undergoing offseason ankle surgery, while Anunoby missed the last five games before the All-Star break with a sprained right foot.

New York has already declared Robinson out for Thursday’s game with Chicago, but it appears his season debut won’t be far away. Coach Tom Thibodeau is looking forward to having his defensive anchor back on the court.

“You have to anticipate that the game’s gonna be different, so we’ll see where he is once he’s out there,” Thibodeau said. “He’ll need a little bit of time. But the things that he can bring, the hustle, the ability to see things early, play pick and roll, rim-protect, offensive rebound; those are things he’ll bring right off the bat.”

Thibodeau added that Anunoby was able to heal during the week-long All-Star break. Miles McBride was also back at practice today after a rib issue forced him out of last week’s game with Atlanta.

“It means a lot. Obviously after the break you want everyone to be ready to go,” Jalen Brunson said. “I’m excited to get down this stretch. I love this team a lot.”

There’s more from New York:

  • Josh Hart will be held out of Thursday’s game with patellofemoral syndrome in his right knee, tweets Steve Popper of Newsday. The condition is also known as “runner’s knee.”
  • The Knicks have been the clear winners of the trade for Karl-Anthony Towns, who has become their best center since Patrick Ewing, contends Mike Vaccaro of The New York Post. He states that Towns has been far more productive than Julius Randle, who was sent to Minnesota in the deal, while Donte DiVincenzo has suffered through an early-season shooting slump and a recent toe injury. Vaccaro notes that Towns has also shed any reputation he had of being “soft.” He has been able to stay on the court despite knee issues and a sprained thumb.
  • Landry Shamet appears to be the odd man out of the rotation once Robinson is cleared to resume playing, James L. Edwards III of The Athletic states in a mailbag column. Shamet is averaging 11 minutes per night in 22 games off the bench, but Edwards notes that Thibodeau prefers a nine-man rotation at most and isn’t likely to expand that when Robinson becomes available. However, Edwards expects Robinson to start out on a minutes restriction, so there should still be some opportunities for Shamet.
  • Towns isn’t likely to complain if he has to move from center to power forward to accommodate Robinson’s return, Edwards adds. He points out that Towns’ most successful season came playing alongside Rudy Gobert in Minnesota.

Eastern Notes: Williams, Russell, Suggs, Banchero, Knicks

In an ironic twist, Hornets center Mark Williams is listed as probable to play against the Lakers on Wednesday, Charlotte’s PR department tweets.

Williams would be playing in his first game since the Hornets-Lakers trade was rescinded after he failed to pass Los Angeles’ physical due to “multiple issues.” The probable status is due to “return to play reconditioning.”

The Lakers front office thought it had solved their starting center issue by acquiring Williams. They had agreed to give up rookie wing Dalton Knecht, forward Cam Reddish, an unprotected 2031 first-round pick and a 2030 first-round pick swap. Knecht and Reddish returned to the Lakers along with the draft capital when the team decided to void the deal.

Williams, who has battled injuries throughout his young career, is averaging 16.0 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.2 blocks and 0.7 steals per game in 22 contests this season.

We have more Eastern Conference news:

  • While the Nets gave all the appearances of tanking earlier this season, their young core isn’t cooperating. They are within range of a play-in spot, trailing the 10th-place Bulls by just 1.5 games. They’ve gotten a boost from D’Angelo Russell in his second stint with the organization. Russell led them to an unlikely postseason berth five years ago and it could happen again, Brian Lewis of the New York Post writes. Russell is averaging 14.5 points and 5.8 assists in 16 games since he was acquired from the Lakers. “Last time it just … kind of happened,” Russell said. “So I think if it’s gonna happen, it will. We definitely have the chance. We definitely have a nice group, definitely have all the coaches and everything to give it that. So we’ll keep preparing like that’s in the plans. But as far as getting ahead of myself and trying to do things out of the ordinary, that’s not really … it’s kind of out of my control, I would say. So [we’ve] just got to go one game at a time, one win at a time.”
  • Even with added rest and recovery time, Jalen Suggs is still not 100 percent. Head coach Jamahl Mosley told Jason Beede of the Orlando Sentinel (Twitter link) on Tuesday that the Magic guard was “able to go through running portions of practice but no contact still.” Suggs missed the last nine games before the All-Star break due to a left quad contusion.
  • Expect better results from Paolo Banchero after the All-Star break, Beede opines as he examines five storylines to watch for the remainder of the Magic‘s season. After missing 34 games due to a torn right abdominal muscle, Banchero has averaged 20.6 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 3.4 turnovers per game while shooting 28.9% from 3-point range over the past 18 contests. Banchero said his main issue after recovering from the injury was getting back into top shape to play with the same energy and effort on a nightly basis.
  • The Knicks got good grades on their midseason report card. The New York Post’s Stefan Bondy gives Josh Hart an A-plus, with Jalen Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns earning As.

Injury Notes: Hart, Gafford, Ball, Cancar

Josh Hart hasn’t had to miss any time due to right knee soreness, but he has continually shown up on the Knicks‘ injury report as a result of the issue, notes Stefan Bondy of The New York Post. The 29-year-old forward said on Monday that he isn’t sure whether or not he’ll need to undergo an offseason procedure on the knee.

“We’ll see what it calls for at the end of the season,” Hart said. “But, like I said before, I’m a servant to (my teammates) this year. I want to make sure I put these guys in the best situation. It’s not just for them. It’s also for (head coach Tom Thibodeau). I want to make sure that I’m available to him, I want to make sure when I’m out there, I’m playing at a high level and playing the game the way I know how to play. If I’m out there, I’m healthy enough. And I’m good.”

Hart has certainly achieved his goal of playing at a high level this season. Appearing in 51 of 52 possible games, he has scored 14.4 points per game, with career-best marks in rebounds (9.6 per game), assists (5.7), steals (1.5), field goal percentage (55.4%), and free throw percentage (80.6%).

Here are a few more injury-related notes from around the NBA:

  • The Mavericks‘ frontcourt situation went from bad to worse on Monday night, as starting center Daniel Gafford exited the game vs. Sacramento and didn’t return due to what the team called a right knee sprain (Twitter link). Dallas big men Dereck Lively (fracture in ankle) and Anthony Davis (adductor strain) are already expected to be unavailable for at least the next few weeks, so the club would be extremely shorthanded up front if Gafford has to miss time too.
  • Hornets guard LaMelo Ball, who has battled ankle issues for multiple seasons and just recently returned from a left ankle sprain, sat out the final three quarters of Monday’s loss to Brooklyn due to right ankle soreness (story via ESPN.com). While Ball said after the game that he didn’t think the injury was serious, the Hornets could hold him out of their final game before the All-Star break on Wednesday in order to give him an extra week to rest.
  • Nuggets forward Vlatko Cancar, who underwent arthroscopic surgery on his left knee in early December, will remain on the shelf through the All-Star break, but there’s a chance his return isn’t too far off, according to head coach Michael Malone (Twitter link via Vinny Benedetto of The Denver Gazette). Malone said over the weekend that Cancar might make it back to the court before Peyton Watson does — Watson was ruled out for at least four weeks on February 3 due to a right knee sprain.

Atlantic Notes: Porzingis, Irving, Hart, George

Winning a championship last season has affected the Celtics’ killer instinct, center Kristaps Porzingis admits. Porzingis made his comments after Boston’s win over Dallas on Saturday.

“We were a lion last season, and some games this year we’ve looked like a house cat,” Porzingis said, per ESPN’s Tim MacMahon. “We want to have that spirit as a team this year, and it’s tough. Obviously we can’t trick ourselves and make it [like] it’s playoffs every game. It’s tough, just human nature. But we know the group that we have and we know that we’re going to bring it to the big games, but we need to bring it consistently and keep building on top of good wins like (Saturday).”

Boston has gone 11-9 over its last 20 games.

“We’re definitely working towards getting our killer instinct back,” Porzingis said. “We want to have that. Some moments we’ve looked really good, some moments not so good. Some moments we’ve cruised a little bit.”

We have more from the Atlantic Division:

  • Kyrie Irving had a tumultuous stint in Boston before departing in free agency in 2019 but he has nothing but praise for the current version of the Celtics, according to Brian Robb of Masslive.com. “Everyone kind of criticizes them based on what their season is this year, but if you look at their first 42 games, it’s pretty similar compared to last year,” the Mavericks guard said. “Maybe two years off. This is a well coached basketball team.”
  • Josh Hart was considered a game-time decision on Saturday due to knee soreness. The Knicks forward wound up posting his sixth triple-double this season with 20 points, 18 rebounds and 11 assists as New York blew out the Kings. Hart never had a triple-double before he joined the Knicks in 2022, Stefan Bondy of the New York Post notes. “I think that’s a lot of credit to Thomas Thibodeau,” Hart said. “And him putting me in a position to be successful. I think it’s always a good combination when you have a coach and player who match each other’s craziness. So I gotta give him all the credit for the success I’m having since I’ve been here.”
  • Paul George has dealt with numerous injuries in his first season with the Sixers, the latest being a finger ailment suffered on Saturday. “You feel bad for him,” guard Tyrese Maxey told Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer, “especially because now you think he’s finding his rhythm, kind of finding his niche where he fits in with the offense.”