Tyrese Maxey can’t succeed without Joel Embiid. The Sixers need to add DeMar DeRozan at trade deadline.

If this season has taught us anything about the Sixers, it’s that as talented as Tyrese Maxey is, he isn’t a No. 1 offensive option. Not consistently. Not yet. He often stagnates without Joel Embiid on the floor. He lacks a midrange game. He sometimes struggles to finish at the rim when frontline big men aren’t worried about leaving the reigning MVP.

Further, neither Kelly Oubre Jr. nor Nico Batum is a half-court shot creator. Tobias Harris is, but he’s not enough.

The Sixers need a player who can win one-on-one. They need a player who can draw fouls. They need a player who can create offense as the clock is expiring.

They need DeMar DeRozan.

» READ MORE: ‘I feel bad for him’: Joel Embiid’s knee surgery erases one of the most dominant seasons in NBA history

If he’s not a 76er by the deadline at 3 p.m. Thursday, then the season is over. Trade Marcus Morris Sr. and the Sixers’ first-round pick in 2024.

DeRozan is 34. His contract expires at the end of the season. So is Marcus Morris and so does Marcus Morris’. The numbers work: Morris’ $17 million is enough to qualify the Sixers to absorb DeRozan’s $27 million.

The Bulls seem reluctant to move DeRozan, preferring rather to extend his contract. Of course, since DeRozan will be an unrestricted free agent at the end of the year, he’d probably be foolish not to hit the open market. The Bulls hold the No. 9 slot in the Eastern Conference, which would put them in the play-in round, but they’re three games under .500, have lost four of their last seven, and found out Saturday that guard Zach LaVine will need foot surgery that will cost him the rest of the season.

They’re cooked, and they should know it, and they should covet first-round picks; they have only their own to use this spring. They can always re-sign DeRozan after the season.

The Sixers, meanwhile, have a closing window and a hobbled superstar.

Embiid had knee surgery Tuesday and will miss at least four weeks. That’s the best-case scenario. Let’s talk collateral realities.

If Embiid returns in a month, he’ll have missed six weeks of basketball. He was not in great shape when he got hurt. He will be in terrible shape when he comes back. He’ll be playing on minutes restrictions that might not escalate, even into the playoffs. Embiid at 20 minutes a night, flanked by his current teammates, will not win a first-round playoff series, much less a second-round series.

He’s never made it past the second round, and more losing won’t make the big fella happy. DeRozan gives the Sixers the best chance to win, to some degree, now. Embiid is under contract for two more seasons, with a player option for a third. Adding DeRozan will signify that Daryl Morey will do anything he needs to do to change Embiid’s profile from hard-luck loser to ascending winner.

» READ MORE: Nick Nurse, Tyrese Maxey, and Tobias Harris have to earn their money for the Sixers with no Joel Embiid

This also is the club’s last chance to make Harris’ $180 million deal pay off. He’s not worth the $39 million he’s making this season, and he’s sort of a DeRozan clone, but the pair can be a real threat if combined. Harris and Oubre are not.

Oubre functions best as a fourth option when he’s playing against the other team’s starters and a second option when playing against the other team’s reserves. That’s not a slight: That’s reality. He’s also on a one-year deal. Moving Oubre to the bench makes sense. And what a bench it might be.

Assuming that De’Anthony Melton returns from his back injury and plays next to Maxey in the backcourt, assuming Batum’s 35-year-old hamstring ever recovers, the Sixers could start Maxey-Melton-Embiid-Harris-DeRozan, with Oubre, Batum, guard Patrick Beverley, and center Paul Reed as their bench. There might even be a Robert Covington contribution in the farther future, if his knee ever stops hurting.

In the meantime, DeRozan can be The Man in the 33-game sprint to the postseason. He’s used to it.

He’s a six-time All-Star, most recently last season. He’s averaged 23.4 points for the last 11 seasons with the Raptors, Spurs, and Bulls and he’s at 22.3 this season. He shoots seldom, and poorly, from three-point range, but he gets to the line and he hits his free throws. He’s an indifferent defender and a casual rebounder (4.1 per game this season) but he’s a competent passer (5.3 assists), and that could mean fewer high-pressure looks for Maxey.

DeRozan also averages slightly more points in his career in the playoffs (21.8) than he averages in the regular season (21.1). Since becoming frontline players, Embiid, Maxey, and Harris all average less in the playoffs.

DeRozan might not be as good as he once was, but he only needs to be as good a few times as he ever was.

He’s a better deadline fit than, say, Hawks guard Dejounte Murray, who improved his three-point game but who remains a poor defender, especially when compared with Melton. Put Murray next to Maxey and opponents’ backcourts will average 50 points a game.

Finally, one of the more important factors in the Bulls’ desire to retain DeRozan lies in his professionalism and maturity.

Frankly, even when Embiid returns, the Sixers could use a powerful dose of that.