That means Maxey will have to take the lead in this group, just as he did in the two months Embiid missed in the 2023-24 season due to a meniscus injury in his left knee. The Sixers had their issues when the big guy was down as Maxey adjusted to being No. 1 on opposing scouting reports, but now that he’s thrown into this situation, he’s ready to lead after learning from experiences from the past.

“I learned a lot,” Maxey said. “Obviously I said several times, you hate to see him go down last year, but I think it really helped me grow my game with my mind. I’ve seen many different coverages. Teams were trying to do a lot of different things, trying to score my success and die. So I had to find ways around that: getting my teammates involved, making some off-ball plays, doing different things to help my team be successful.”