Sixers star Tyrese Maxey expected to miss a couple of weeks with hamstring injury

LOS ANGELES — Tyrese Maxey is expected to be sidelined for a couple of weeks with a right hamstring injury, sources confirmed Thursday.

The 76ers guard felt hamstring tightness during the 110-98 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers on Wednesday at the Intuit Dome. Hamstring tightness that requires a multiweek recovery often indicates a strain. Maxey, 24, will undergo further evaluation on Thursday to determine the extent of his injury.

He played the entire third quarter and appeared limited while missing all three of his shots. He did not return in the fourth.

Maxey finished the game with 12 points on 5-for-13 shooting — including 1 of 6 on three-pointers — in 31 minutes, 34 seconds. He is the league leader in minutes played at 39.7 per game.

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The Sixers are determined to take a careful approach with the injury. They have recent experience with that type of injury after former Sixer Nico Batum went down last season. The forward returned too soon and reinjured his hamstring.

Maxey is the latest Sixers All-Star to miss time this season. Paul George sat out the first five games of the season with a bone bruise in his left knee. Meanwhile, Joel Embiid has yet to play. The 7-foot-2 center was sidelined all preseason and for the first six games of the season for what the team called left knee injury management.

Now healthy, Embiid is in the midst of a three-game suspension for shoving Inquirer columnist Marcus Hayes on Saturday. He sat out Wednesday’s loss to the Clippers and will not play against the Los Angeles Lakers on Friday or the Charlotte Hornets on Sunday.

The Sixers (1-6) are in last place in the Eastern Conference while riding a four-game losing streak.

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Batum was a key addition last season, and the Sixers were determined to re-sign him this offseason.

But the power forward opted instead to head back to the Clippers, from whom the Sixers acquired him in the November 2023 James Harden blockbuster trade.

“Basketball-wise, it was great for me last year,” he said of his time with the Sixers. “When I got there, I didn’t know what to expect. Basketball, it was a great year, but at the end of the year, at this stage of my career, I need to make the best decision for me. Family-wise, like contract and everything, and which team was — I need to check off the boxes.”

The native of France often mentioned how his children attended a Southern California school where French is frequently spoken. It also was an area his family has called home since he originally signed with the Clippers on Dec. 1, 2020.

“I want to go back close to my family,” Batum said. “I don’t want my kids to change schools and stuff like that. And I go back to an organization I know very well with a coach [Ty Lue] I know really well as well. ... So I know my role. I know everything. So just to come back here checked all the boxes for me.”