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Tyrese Maxey is the Sixers Miracle That Keeps on Giving
By Sean Barnard
Published:
Improbable is a word that should be associated with Tyrese Maxey’s tenure in Philadelphia.
It was improbable that the Sixers would even get their top-20 protected draft pick back in 2020 that was used to select him. It was improbable that Tyrese Maxey would fall to the 21st pick to be available to be selected. It was improbable that Maxey would grow into the All-NBA player he has become, and for the speedy guard to become the connective fabric keeping the Sixers’ window to compete open across the past few seasons.
Insane may be a better word for the fact that, if it were not for Tyrese Maxey, there is no world where this LeBron James, Jaylen Brown, and Joel Embiid superteam would exist.
Mike Muscala Etches His Name in Philadelphia History
Mike Muscala should never have to pay for a beer in the city of Philadelphia.
The 47 games he suited up for the Sixers in the 2018-19 season were not particularly memorable. Muscala posted mild averages of 7.4 points and 4.3 assists while shooting 34.2% from beyond the three-point arc across 22.1 minutes per game. He had some nice flashes as the theoretical floor-spacing power forward that is necessary to maximize Embiid’s interior impact, and was better than plenty of other options the Sixers tried over the years.
But his greater impact to the franchise came after he was traded away as part of the Tobias Harris package, and eventually found his way to the Oklahoma City Thunder. The draft pick changed hands a few times, and the protections were negotiated during deals that sent Markelle Fultz and Al Horford away, with both players each taking their own attempts at closing this championship window. But ultimately, the 76ers’ 2020 first-round pick was the Thunder’s as long as it fell within the top 20 selections, a reasonable bet for a team that was kicking off the rebuild of the championship-caliber team they currently possess.
Chris Paul’s veteran presence and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being better than expected propelled the Thunder to a stronger start than expected before the world hit pause for the pandemic. When the action picked up roughly four months later, Oklahoma City was firmly in the standings battle with the final regular season matchup. The game was insane enough in itself, with some wild rotations, and the Heat took a 100-82 lead into the fourth quarter.
Oklahoma City produced a thrilling comeback effort in the final period of play, with future Sixers Darius Bazely and Terrance Ferguson, as well as former Sixer Nerlens Noel, each playing key roles. Muscala himself was held scoreless for the first 47 minutes of play. But with just 40 seconds remaining on the clock of a largely inconsequential game that the Sixers were not even playing in, Muscala knocked down two of the most important three-pointers in Philadelphia history. The then 28-year-old connected on a pair of perimeter looks to tie and take the lead, before a missed Tyler Herro three-pointer secured the Thunder victory to cement the 21st pick coming to Philadelphia.
Tyrese Maxey Falling to the 21st Pick
While keeping the draft pick was celebrated as a win in itself, the work truly started then, as ensuring the selection would bring in a player who could actually make a positive impact was essential. Landing a rotation player who sticks in the NBA for a few seasons is largely viewed as a win at the 21st pick; nabbing an All-Star caliber player this late is a rarity.
It was even more improbable for 20 NBA teams to pass up on Maxey during draft day. The then 6-foot-2 guard was a five-star recruit coming out of high school, ranked 10th in the country per 247 Sports, and spent a one-and-done season at Kentucky under John Calipari. Maxey was the best player on that Kentucky roster, which sent six players to the NBA, with him posting averages of 14.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists across his 31 games played.
Maxey had a fairly large range in his draft projection, in what was a strange pre-draft process given the circumstances. With the pandemic preventing teams from meeting with players in person and plenty of restrictions with workouts, there was less clarity on the hierarchy of prospects than usual. Maxey was projected as high as a top-10 pick, and widely regarded as a surefire top-15 projected pick.
It is also hard to imagine that Maxey wouldn’t have skyrocketed up draft boards if he had been able to play in the NCAA Tournament and finish his freshman season. Every year there are players who change their draft trajectory in these high-magnitude college basketball games, and he feels like a player who could’ve easily fit into this category.
But the lack of tape and his 29.2% three-point percentage allowed teams to select players like Kira Lewis Jr., Cole Anthony, Josh Green, Aleksej Pokusevski, Saddiq Bey, and Precious Achiuwa over the current Sixers star. While the story has not been fully written for every player in this draft class just yet, if there were a redraft right now, Maxey would be a lock to be a top-five pick and arguably as high as the second selection. Anthony Edwards is the only player that should be viewed as a lock for being selected ahead of Maxey, with LaMelo Ball, Tyrese Haliburton, Deni Avdija, and Desmond Bane the only other players with any sort of case.
Tyrese Maxey’s Evolution
Going from the 21st overall pick to a potential face of the franchise is another improbable part of Maxey’s career path. He has embraced the mantra of “1% better every day,” and backed this up by taking massive strides every year he has been in the league. Partially chained down by Doc Rivers’ unwillingness to give young players minutes, Maxey posted mild averages of 8.0 points and 2.0 assists in 15.3 minutes per game as a rookie. His shooting issues were not fully fixed, as the then 20-year-old shot just 30.1% from beyond the arc across his rookie season. Matisse Thybulle, George Hill, and Furkan Korkmaz each logged more postseason minutes than Maxey, with this being the year that Ben Simmons passed up the dunk against the Hawks as his Sixers and NBA career fizzled to a halt.
In another fascinating twist, we may not have seen the breakout of Maxey at the rate it occurred had it not been for Simmons’ holdout and preseason circus. Largely by default, Maxey was plugged into the Sixers’ starting lineup as Daryl Morey dug his heels in for the staring contest with Simmons that eventually netted the team James Harden. Maxey saw his minutes leap to 35.3 per game and posted averages of 17.5 points and 4.3 assists per game during his second season. His speed was a legitimate difference-maker as he learned to play alongside Joel Embiid, and he improved his three-point percentage to 42.7%, which ranked top five in the NBA that season. Maxey further raised the bar for his three-point production the following season, connecting on 43.4% of his perimeter attempts in his third season in the league. In the span of three years, the then-22-year-old went from a guy who dropped in the pre-draft process because of concerns with his perimeter shooting to one of the best, most effective long-range shooters in the league.
Maxey earned the Most Improved Award honors in the following year, in which he made his first All-Star appearance during the 2023-24 season. In his fourth season in the NBA, he posted averages of 25.9 points, 6.2 assists, and 3.7 rebounds, while being asked to serve as the true co-star to Embiid. Harden forced his way out of Philadelphia, and Morey elected to take a draft pick-centered package without a true replacement. Embiid has been widely credited as one of the first players to believe in Maxey being able to reach the heights he has, and the young guard answered the call time after time.
What is most impressive to me about Maxey’s growth is the way his role has shifted in such a significant capacity based on the roster around him without his growth ever stunting. He has improved his points per game average in all six seasons of his NBA career, and added plenty of other layers to his game. This has been all while his role has shifted from an on- and off-ball capacity as he shared the floor with players like Simmons, Harden, Embiid, Paul George, and a revolving door of other names to varying degrees. Maxey has now averaged more points per game than Embiid in back-to-back seasons and earned a 2025-26 All-NBA team appearance, recognizing him as one of the top 15 players in the league last year.
Beyond just the recognition of his production, Maxey has been the string that has held the Sixers in the contending category. As Embiid’s injury issues became more prevalent in recent years, Maxey proved both good enough to serve as a co-star in the present and painted a picture for life beyond the Embiid era for the first real time. He deserves almost exclusive credit for giving the team enough hope of competing to remain in the contending mix.
Delaying Maxey’s Contract Extension
One area where Maxey does not get enough credit is for his willingness to delay his contract extension for the betterment of the team. It has become commonplace in the NBA for guys to ink their extensions as soon as possible, even if they think that the team that they sign with will not be the team paying the final bill. For the player, you ensure that you lock yourself in for this type of generational wealth and avoid the risk of injury or a bad season preventing you from getting this top-end value. For the organization, it ensures that you keep team control of the star player, and if things do turn south, it requires another team trading for him and thus ensuring you get something in return rather than allow a player to just leave in free agency.
Painting with a broad stroke from a salary cap perspective, it is typically much easier to retain your own players than lure players from other organizations. This was an important order of operations as the Sixers courted nine-time All-Star Paul George in free agency. For the same reason mentioned above, it is increasingly rare for a player of George’s caliber to even reach free agency.
To say it is out of the norm for a player to delay his extension so the team could prioritize bringing in other talent first is an understatement. But there was never any sort of uncomfortable feeling from Maxey’s camp as this process played itself out, and, to Daryl Morey’s credit, he landed the plane by successfully courting George in free agency. Maxey’s level of trust was clearly not lost on the Sixers’ organization. They rewarded him with the “Maxey Museum” as a nice gesture, which is unlike anything that I have ever seen in professional sports and worth the watch below.
For all the flak Morey gets about his lack of connection to players on a human level, this was something that clearly left an impression on Maxey’s camp. This may have mattered more than we realized at the time.
The LeBron James Connection
Tyrese Maxey has been represented by Rich Paul and Klutch Sports since he came into the NBA. That is the same Rich Paul and Klutch Sports that represent LeBron James and a number of other stars across the league. It is also more than a footnote that Maxey has trained under Chris Johnson Hoops since his NBA arrival, who has also worked with LeBron for several years. The new Sixers teammates have crossed paths in this gym plenty of times over the past few offseasons, including directly working out together, as has been shown on social media. They were also back in the gym together just days after the announcement that James would officially be taking his talents to Philadelphia.
As Maxey has continued his evolution as an NBA player, he has also climbed up Rich Paul’s list of clients. There was a time when Paul was threatening to cancel Maxey’s charity work in the city as he served as a pawn in Ben Simmons’ chess game with the Sixers organization to force a trade. He has now grown into a focal point of his client list as a true All-Star talent in the league. It also felt noteworthy at the time, and is especially clear now, that Maxey was the only player with an asterisk next to his name as Paul publicly talked through James’ free agent decision-making process on the Game Over podcast.
“(LeBron) loves Maxey,” Rich Paul stated while forecasting the decision alongside Max Kellerman. He also was quick to slip in a comment stating, “It’s Maxey’s team,” when breaking down all the talent on the Sixers roster.
Embiid, Jaylen Brown, Nick Nurse, Mike Gansey, and Bob Myers also deserve plenty of credit for making their best effort to meet with James’ camp to officially land him in Philadelphia. But Maxey was reportedly relentless in his pursuit and had fewer barriers to clear to have a contact point.
It does not feel a far leap to say that if there was no Tyrese Maxey, LeBron James is almost certainly not suiting up for the Sixers next season. Beyond just his connection to James from an agency and trainer standpoint, he has been the connective fabric keeping the window to winning in Philadelphia open for the past several seasons. This journey to add another ring to his all-time great resume was the true driving force behind James’ decision. This real chance at winning it all does not exist without the star guard.Â
Tyrese Maxey’s Sixers Legacy
There is going to be plenty of overblown takes about whose team this is or who the real face of the 76ers will be moving forward. For at least next season, there will be a star-studded starting lineup with plenty of mouths to feed. But this unit is only possible due to Maxey playing an instrumental role in laying the foundation, and he will reap the benefits after this era does end.
So many conversations have been based around the legacy impact of James and, to a lesser extent, Embiid. It is premature to have any legacy conversations about a 25-year-old whose best days are still ahead of him. But even when looking at his standings in the organization today, Maxey ranks 12th in franchise history in total points and should crack the top 10 this coming season. His career-average of 21.09 points per game currently ranks seventh. He already set the franchise record for most career made three-pointers with 916 and will have a chance to push this total to borderline untouchable levels before he is done playing. Maxey ranks eighth all-time in Sixers’ history in usage rate, sixth in offensive box plus/minus, third in points per 100 possessions, and 10th in value over replacement player, all with just six years under his belt.
Beyond the raw stats, Maxey offers a game as stylistically similar to Allen Iverson’s as has been seen in a Sixers’ uniform since AI himself took the floor. He has an infectious personality that even these past few uneasy years in Philadelphia could not dull. Maxey has walked the walk in setting a new organizational culture built around hard work, and has added new levels to his game all six years he has been in the NBA.Â
All focus this season will be on contending for a championship. But James signed a two-year deal with the second season as a player option, and at some point the 41-year-old will start showing his age. Embiid is now 32-years-old, and it is difficult to picture him playing too deep beyond the next three seasons he is under contract for. Part of the reason for the Celtics’ decision to trade away Brown was the monstrous extension for more than $70 million annually he is eligible for. The Sixers will have to tread carefully when these talks arrive, but it feels fair for all parties to let this season play out first.
But when the dust settles on this star-studded era, it is tough to envision anyone but Maxey carrying the organizational torch beyond it. It was Embiid who first coined Maxey’s nickname as “The Franchise.” But the weight of this nickname didn’t seem to set in at the time. Maxey has been the heartbeat that has kept the city’s hopes alive, and he’s on the fast-track to having his jersey in the rafters when his story is finished being written.Â
Sean Barnard has covered the Philadelphia 76ers and general Philly Sports for over six years in a variety of roles and for multiple outlets. Currently works as a Content Writer for DraftKings Network, Sixers/NBA Insider for Philadelphia's Fox Sports the Gambler, and co-host of Sixers & Phillies Digest on Youtube. Forever Trusting the Process.