Report: Tyrese Maxey ‘challenged’ Joel Embiid in Sixers team meeting in Miami

The Philadelphia 76ers fell to an abysmal 2-11 on Monday night, prompting a team meeting after another loss in Miami. Head coach Nick Nurse wouldn’t elaborate in his postgame presser, but we’re now learning some of the details.

ESPN’s Shams Charania reported more in his latest story.

“The loss to the Heat was the fourth straight for the 76ers, prompting veteran guard Kyle Lowry to call the meeting — a much-needed heart-to-heart and call for action and urgency, sources told ESPN, where both players and coaches held each other accountable and made mistakes at the start of the season.

In the meeting, Maxey challenged Embiid to be on time for team activities, calling out the former league MVP for being late “to everything” and how that affects the locker room, from other players to the coaching staff, sources briefed on the meeting said . ESPN.

Maxey and Embiid have a close friendship and have a history of holding each other accountable, according to those around the team.

“Tyrese loves ‘Big Fella,’ but this is the elephant in the room,” a person involved in the meeting told ESPN.

As mentioned above, Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid have a close friendship that has formed since the young guard arrived in Philadelphia back in 2020. While an early season team meeting is never a good sign, it’s important for the top talent to stick together responsible.

The Sixers as a whole have struggled mightily, but there is likely even more pent-up frustration on Embiid’s part in particular. For the first few weeks, Embiid was held out with “a plan” to increase his conditioning and manage his knee. Then there was the Marcus Hayes incident, which boiled over and led to a three-game suspension. All of this could contribute to Joel’s frustration and lack of enthusiasm from the early season.

Charania also added that “Embiid accepted the messages sent in the meeting, sources said, but he said he is confused by what the 76ers are trying to accomplish sometimes on the court.”

The lack of cohesion is evident in almost every moment so far this year. It is up to the players, along with Nurse, to streamline this process and show some results game over game. We haven’t seen much of that yet.

There is some good news to touch on, though: Maxey is expected to return either Wednesday at Memphis vs. Grizzlies or Friday at home against Brooklyn Nets.

There’s plenty of blame to go around for the Sixers’ nightmare start. Now that they have aired their grievances, hopefully they can get things moving in the right direction starting Wednesday.