Sixers Notes: George, Maxey, Lowry, Grimes, Oubre, Drummond

There were sky-high expectations for the Sixers heading into this season after Paul George signed with the team as a free agent last summer, joining Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey to form a big three. However, Philadelphia lost 12 of its first 14 games en route to a massively disappointing 24-58 season, as injuries decimated the roster and prevented the team from ever gaining any real momentum.

“Yeah, it was just, to be honest, one of the toughest seasons for me,” George said on Sunday, according to Tim Bontemps of ESPN. “Just with a lot of adversity on the court, off the court and, then again, the injury stuff was some stuff that I didn’t necessarily know I had going on … which was frustrating.”

As ugly as this season was, George and Maxey indicated on Sunday that they still believe the core is capable of competing for a championship in future seasons.

“The names on the paper … it looks nice. It does,” Maxey said. “And I think we’ve seen where our peaks can be this year. There wasn’t a lot of them. But there was some stretches where we all played and we looked really good. We found the right rotations, we knew who to get the ball to, who we need to get the ball to them, everybody got shots, everybody looked good.

“So the sky’s the limit. That’s the thing that I can say. But the work has to be put in from day one, not from in the middle of the season. … Today is our last game. Whenever everybody decides to start working out again, that’s when our season for next year starts, individually and collectively. And it has to be taken serious. And I think we will take it serious and I have the ultimate faith in the organization and the guys up top and my teammates to do that.”

Here’s more on the 76ers:

• Maxey told reporters on Sunday that he needs “about another month” before his finger injury recovery has progressed enough for him to resume basketball activities, tweets Derek Bodner of PHLY Sports.
• Veteran point guard Kyle Lowry said after Sunday’s regular season finale that he’d like to play at least one more year in the NBA and hopes to do it with his hometown Sixers, per Kyle Neubeck of PHLY Sports (Twitter link). Lowry, who turned 39 last month, is finishing up his 19th NBA season, so one more would give him an even 20.
• Quentin Grimes, who entered Sunday’s game with 1,978 minutes played this season, logged 35 minutes in Philadelphia’s loss to Chicago to surpass the 2,000-minute threshold and meet the starter criteria. That means his qualifying offer as a restricted free agent this summer will be worth $8,741,210 instead of $6,311,825. That change is unlikely to affect how Grimes’ free agency plays out, since he’s a strong candidate to sign a lucrative multiyear contract.
• Here’s what Sixers wing Kelly Oubre, who holds an $8.4MM player option for 2025/26, had to say about his contract situation on Sunday, according to Bodner (Twitter link): “This is a business, but at the end of the day I’m happy. And I like to finish what I start, and I don’t feel complete. So, godspeed.”
• Big man Andre Drummond also has a player option for ’25/26 (worth $5MM) and expressed interest in remaining in Philadelphia. “My plan is to be back,” he told reporters after Sunday’s game (Twitter link via Bodner).