PHILADELPHIA -- Milwaukee Bucks coach Doc Rivers knows a thing about Philadelphia 76ers stars Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey. He coached both of them for three seasons from 2020-2023 and saw Embiid win MVP and Maxey make a meteoric rise.
Unfortunately, Embiid and Maxey had to miss Thursday's contest against the Bucks due to injuries. Embiid is set to undergo his second left knee surgery in the last 14 months and Maxey has been missing time due to a right finger sprain. It has been a miserable season for everybody involved on the Sixers.
Rivers, who dealt with a lot of Embiid injuries during his time coaching the Sixers, had some words for the big fella as he wishes him all the best.
"I feel bad for him," Rivers said. "He told me when we played them earlier in the year, the last time we played them, he grabbed me on the floor and said ‘I’m probably gonna have to have surgery again’ so I tend to believe him when he says that and he was right so it’s tough. The guy’s as talented as anybody that I’ve ever coached and it’s just too bad for him."
Then, there's Maxey who has continued to grow as a player in this league. Now an All-Star, he has grown as a leader and has been in the ear of his teammates in order to help them take similar steps forward. That's what Rivers has been able to see from afar with his former point guard.
"He’s just growing up," Rivers said of Maxey. "I don’t coach him anymore, but we keep in contact all the time. He probably keeps more in contact with my son. Once a week, they talk, and he’s just really grown up. He knows what he wants to accomplish. He’s not scared to use his voice where there was no way he was gonna use his voice when I was there."
When Maxey was being coached by Rivers, he had guys like Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons, Tobias Harris, and James Harden to lean on. Now, Maxey has been the guy the Sixers lean on so there is a lot of growth there.
"He had Joel, Tobias, then James," Rivers recalled. "He was 19, 20 or whatever, but he’s all the things that’s good for our league. He really is. I keep saying that. He’s just one of those guys that brings sunshine to your locker room and every team should have 12, but every team should just have one if they can get him. If you have one, you better fight to keep it because on the dark days, those type of people in the locker room, they kinda save your franchise in some ways."
While the Sixers are in the midst of what has been a lost season, the hope is that Maxey and Embiid will return healthy in 2025-26 to get the Sixers back into the championship conversation.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Doc Rivers has positive words for Sixers' Joel Embiid, Tyrese Maxey
