How bad are the Sixers without Joel Embiid and Paul George? Numbers suggest they’re one of the NBA’s worst teams.

Through four games, the unit on the floor has consisted of Tyrese Maxey and a collection of role players who were asked to be co-stars. And the results haven’t been positive.

Tyrese Maxey (0) and the Sixers dropped to 1-3 after Wednesday's 105-95 loss to the Detroit Pistons. Read moreElizabeth Robertson / Staff Photographer

by Keith Pompey

Published Oct. 31, 2024, 1:27 p.m. ET

It’s hard to know the gravity of the 76ers’ dismal start to the 2024-25 season while two players from their vaunted Big Three have yet to play.

Through four games, the unit on the floor has consisted of Tyrese Maxey and a collection of role players who were asked to be costars. And the results haven’t been positive.

The Sixers will take a 1-3 record into Saturday’s game against the Memphis Grizzlies at the Wells Fargo Center (7:30 p.m., NBCSP).

Maxey has tried to do his part to carry the offensive load. The All-Star point guard is tied with Denver Nuggets center Nikola Jokić as the league‘s scoring leader at 31.5 points per game. Maxey is logging an NBA-best 42 minutes per game, but he‘s also been inefficient. He’s shooting only 37.8% from the field — including 11-of-48 on three-pointers.

As a team, the Sixers are ranked 28th in the league in field-goal percentage (.413), 23rd in foul-shooting percentage (.741) and rebounding (42 per game), and last in three-pointers made (nine per game), three-point percentage (.277), and defensive rebounding (28.3 per game).

The Sixers had optional shooting on Thursday instead of a full practice. They’ll have a better idea on Friday whether Joel Embiid (left knee injury recovery) and Paul George (left knee bone bruise) will make their season debuts against the Grizzlies.

The Sixers have said the 7-foot-2 center has yet to be a full participant at practice. However, that doesn’t mean Embiid hasn’t scrimmaged in pickup games in a group that includes young players and/or player development coaches. Embiid reportedly has taken part in multiple five-on-five scrimmages in recent days.

In the interim, the Sixers are bad without Embiid and George, their perennial All-Stars, and there’s no denying that. The Sixers earned an impressive 118-114 overtime victory over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday at Gainbridge Fieldhouse, but their three losses came to the Milwaukee Bucks, Toronto Raptors and Detroit Pistons — teams with a combined 3-11 record.

On Wednesday, the Pistons (1-4) shot 41.7% on three-pointers and had a commanding 20-point lead in the fourth quarter.

“I think our transition defense hasn’t been great,” Maxey said. “You know coach [Nick] Nurse talks about when we want to crash [the boards], when we don’t want to crash, who we want crashing, and being smart about our crashing, too. That’s one thing we can talk about.

“There’s a lot of different pieces on why we’ve been losing.”

Maxey doesn’t think the Sixers played well — or hard — enough in Friday’s 115-107 road loss to the undermanned Raptors (1-4). The Bucks (1-3) made shots and benefited from several missed defensive coverages by the Sixers in the season-opening 124-109 loss at the Wells Fargo Center. Detroit simply dominated all aspects of Wednesday’s game.

“They outrebounded us,” Maxey said. “They out-toughed us, and they got to where they wanted to get to.”

One half of play against the Pacers aside, the Sixers have been doomed by costly turnovers, empty offensive possessions, and defensive lapses.

Maxey realizes they can’t do that while Embiid and George are out.

“That is just the life of it,” he said. “We have to go out there; we have to execute. We have to be prepared, more prepared than the other team. We have to know what we are running [and] when we are running it. We have to know the scouting report. We have to know what we are going to do, and we have to execute that plan.

“We have our coaches telling us what to do. No matter what the scouting report is, we have to execute it.”