Sixers fans are upset with Tyrese Maxey’s comments on life without Joel Embiid

The Sixers dropped another one last night, 107-117 to the Atlanta Hawks, falling to 1-7 in the last eight games without Joel Embiid and right on cue, the fanbase immediately started pointing fingers at Tyrese Maxey.

Tyrese Maxey’s postgame comments set people off. He talked about the difficulty of constantly shifting roles:

“Playing multiple styles of basketball…it’s weird, you know, I’ve had a successful year, but I’ve played three different roles and that’s difficult.”

Somehow, a 25 year old being candid about a genuinely difficult situation turned into a referendum on whether he belongs on this team.

Tyrese Maxey Postgame:

Tyrese Maxey and the Sixers are 1-7 in their last eight games without Joel Embiid dating back to late December.

Earlier in the season, the 76ers were finding ways to win when Joel didn’t play.

Tyrese weighed in on this topic after their 117-107 loss to Atlanta.@KYWNewsradio pic.twitter.com/ZTHlDK9wVP

— Dave Uram (@MrUram) February 20, 2026

One fan actually said, “I’ve seen Ben Simmons carry the team without Embiid, this has never been an issue when the Sixers had a point guard.”

Let’s deal with that one directly. Maxey averages seven more points without Embiid than Simmons did, and four more than James Harden. At 25, Simmons averaged five points for an entire season. Five. So that argument is dead on arrival.

Others are saying Tyrese Maxey “can’t run the team” or is “incapable of being the main guy.” The man is averaging 28.9 points and 6.7 assists per game at 25 years old. If that profile belongs in the G-League then the rest of the league has some serious explaining to do.

Here’s where the logic completely falls apart.

Fans will turn around in the same breath and blame Daryl Morey for building a bad roster, and then blame Tyrese Maxey for not winning with that roster.

You cannot hold both of those positions at the same time. If the roster construction is the problem, then the roster construction is why they lose without Embiid. Not the 25 year old dropping 28 points a night.

Look at the bench from last night.

The Sixers’ bench combined for 31 points against Atlanta. Cam Payne had zero. Dominick Barlow had one as a starter. Their bench unit is the third lowest scoring in the entire NBA. Maxey by himself nearly matched the whole group.

That is a depth problem. A roster construction problem. Not a Tyrese Maxey problem.

What Maxey said after the game is exactly right and it’s something worth repeating. It is genuinely hard to build chemistry and develop a consistent role when your max contract teammates can’t stay healthy enough to give you continuity.

This isn’t a shot at Embiid either.

The man is so dominant that the entire team is built around him, which means when he’s out, the structure collapses. That’s the real conundrum. His greatness makes everyone around him dependent on his presence, and when he’s gone there’s no fallback system because the roster was never designed to need one.

Two out of three max contract players in and out of the lineup all season with no continuity, a bench that can barely score, and a 25 year old star doing everything he can with what’s in front of him.

That’s the situation. Blaming Tyrese Maxey for any of it isn’t just wrong, it’s lazy. It’s the easy narrative when the real answer requires actually looking at the bigger picture.

Until the roster gets built to function without its centerpiece, this cycle keeps repeating. Fans might be waiting a while.

Join The Chase