The Sixers held a team meeting after their latest loss in Miami, with Tyrese Maxey reportedly “calling out” Joel Embiid.
The Philadelphia 76ers fell to an abysmal 2-11 Monday night, prompting a team meeting after another loss in Miami. Head coach Nick Nurse wouldn’t expand upon it in his postgame presser, but we are now learning some of the details.
ESPN’s Shams Charania reported more in his latest story.
“The loss to the Heat was the fourth in a row for the 76ers, sparking veteran guard Kyle Lowry to call for the meeting — a much-needed heart-to-heart and a call to action and urgency, sources told ESPN, in which both players and coaches held each other accountable and took fault in the start to the season.
In the meeting, Maxey challenged Embiid to be on time to team activities, calling out the former league MVP about being late “for everything” and how it impacts the locker room, from other players to the coaching staff, sources briefed on the meeting told ESPN.
Maxey and Embiid have a close friendship and have a history of holding each other accountable, according to those around the team.
“Tyrese loves Big Fella’, but this is the elephant in the room,” a person involved in the meeting told ESPN.”
As stated above, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid have a close friendship that formed since the young guard arrived in Philadelphia back in 2020. While an early season team meeting is never a good sign, it’s important for the top-end talent to hold each other accountable.
The Sixers as a whole have struggled mightily, but there’s likely even more pent up frustration on Embiid’s side in particular. For the first few weeks, Embiid was held out with “a plan” to ramp up his conditioning and manage his knee. Then, there was the Marcus Hayes incident which boiled over and led to a three-game suspension. All of which could factor into Joel’s frustration and lack of early season enthusiasm.
Charania also added that “Embiid accepted the messages sent in the meeting, sources said, but he stated he is confused about what the 76ers are attempting to execute sometimes on the court.”
The lack of cohesion is evident at almost every moment so far this year. It’s on the players, along with Nurse, to streamline that process and show some results game over game. We have yet to see much of that.
There is some good news to touch on, however: Maxey is expected to return either Wednesday in Memphis vs. the Grizzlies or Friday at home against the Brooklyn Nets.
There’s plenty of blame to go around for the Sixers’ nightmare start. Now that they’ve aired their grievances, hopefully they can get things moving in the right direction starting on Wednesday.