Tyrese Maxey should be shut down next. His return would hurt Sixers’ tank race.

ATLANTA — Tyrese Maxey would say, “I’m doing my job.”

Common sense says Maxey’s stellar play would be detrimental to the 76ers’ current mission.

Coach Nick Nurse says, “There’s games to play.”

Reality says the Sixers, for all intents and purposes, are done for the season.

As the depleted squad continues to flounder through its final games, which are essentially two hours of garbage ball, it keeps leaving the door open for a Maxey return. The standout point guard just needs to tell the Sixers — and himself — that it would be counterproductive.

» READ MORE: Sixers continue to help their draft lottery chances with 132-119 loss to Atlanta Hawks

It’s not worth it. It’s too dangerous. It’s best to let his lower back and finger sprains fully heal.

Maxey is 24 years old but banged up. He’s unyielding but human. He certainly has earned the right to finish his season, but Sixers fans have earned the right to hope he doesn’t.

Fans know Maxey’s presence could prevent the Sixers from keeping their first-round pick in June’s NBA draft, which is top-six protected. Right now, the Sixers have been stripped down to Quentin Grimes, Guerschon Yabusele, and a group of former and current two-way and NBA G League players. The goal was to field a makeshift roster of hardworking players incapable of pulling out victories.

So far, it’s been a success.

The Sixers picked up a much-needed 132-119 loss to the Atlanta Hawks on Sunday at the State Farm Arena. And they followed that up with a much-needed 112-99 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans on Monday at the Smoothie King Center. It was their 22nd loss in 26 games.

» READ MORE: Sixers’ Tyrese Maxey to remain sidelined on road trip; still no update on Joel Embiid’s possible procedure

By dropping to 23-49, they remained tied with the Brooklyn Nets for the league’s fifth-worst record with 10 games remaining.

The Sixers, Nets, and Toronto Raptors are battling for the fifth-, sixth- and seventh-worst records.

The Sixers will have a 63.9% chance of keeping the pick by finishing with the fifth-worst mark. Finishing among the bottom four teams will only increase their odds. But it will drop to 45.8% with the sixth-worst record and 31.9% with the seventh-worst mark.

And unfortunately for the Sixers, they have the NBA’s second-easiest remaining schedule behind the Raptors (25-47).

The New York Knicks, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Milwaukee Bucks are the only teams on the Sixers’ remaining schedule with winning records. They’ll play Raptors, Hawks (35-36), and Chicago Bulls in addition to facing the Washington Wizards and Miami Heat twice down the stretch.

Toronto only has one team — the Detroit Pistons — with a winning record in its remaining 10 games. The Nets, who have the sixth-easiest remaining schedule, have four games against winning teams — Knicks, Los Angeles Clippers, and Timberwolves (twice) — during their final 10 games.

The Sixers could easily win a chunk of their remaining games if Maxey returns. Right now, they’re being led by Grimes, who’s averaging 30.2 points in his last five games.

» READ MORE: Sixers’ injuries turned a highly anticipated season into a disaster. How will they move forward?

Can you imagine how potent that backcourt of Maxey and Grimes would be against struggling teams like the Wizards (15-56), Heat (30-41), Raptors, and Bulls (32-40)?

Maxey is averaging career highs of 26.3 points and 1.8 steals to go with 6.1 assists. The 2024 All-Star and most improved player would also open up things for Yabusele and Edwards.

Maxey missed his 12th consecutive game on Monday. Assuming he returns for the final 10 games, the fifth-year veteran will have played only 62 games this season. That’s important because, according to the collective bargaining agreement, players are required to participate in a minimum of 65 games to be eligible for NBA regular-season awards, including All-NBA.

So Maxey is already disqualified from that. As a result, there’s no reason to bring him back.

The Sixers know that.

But …

“I keep saying, ‘It’s a season and he’s a good player,’” Nurse said Sunday of Maxey returning. “He’s a good young player, and there’s games to play. And if he can do it healthy, he should do it.”

It wouldn’t be surprising if the Sixers already decided to shut down Maxey but are outwardly projecting that he could return to avoid an NBA tanking investigation.

Whatever the case, they can’t afford to play the standout. The only option is to shut him down just as they did with Joel Embiid (left knee) and Paul George (left groin), the other members of their Big Three.