Tyrese Maxey will walk into Madison Square Garden on Tuesday night with the Knicks’ championship celebration waiting overhead, but Philadelphia’s season will turn on what he can build around it. The 76ers open against New York as the Knicks receive their rings for last June’s title, with Maxey now at the center of a reworked Philadelphia group that includes Joel Embiid, LeBron James and Jaylen Brown.
| Maxey marker | Figure |
|---|---|
| Draft position | No. 20 overall, 2020 |
| Former Kentucky debut | 30-foot clinching shot vs. No. 1 Michigan State |
| Time in Philadelphia cited by the front office | Eight years |
The new names carry the headline weight, but the Sixers’ spacing, pace and late-clock organization will depend heavily on Maxey. Philadelphia president Mike Gansey sees the guard as a player who must be among the best on the floor each night if the roster is going to operate at its intended level.
Maxey’s job changes after a season in which injuries to Embiid and Paul George left him with the broadest offensive freedom of his career. He delivered his first All-NBA campaign while often serving as Philadelphia’s entire shot-creation apparatus. When he could not generate a look, the offense regularly bogged down.
Now there are fewer possessions to command and more stars requiring rhythm. James has handled the ball frequently in preseason action, moving Maxey into off-ball work for longer stretches. When Maxey initiates, he must also find the right volume for Embiid and Brown. The tradeoff is expected to be cleaner floor balance and better looks than the Sixers had a year ago.
A point guard’s new balancing act
Gansey’s message is not for Maxey to shrink his game. Philadelphia still needs his burst, pull-up shooting and willingness to attack.
“It will be difficult because he is accustomed to having the ball, particularly after last season,” Gansey said. “He still has to shoot and play like himself. The key is mixing in the playmaking and doing it efficiently.”
Maxey has handled role changes before. At Kentucky, he worked primarily without the ball. His early NBA seasons brought the same assignment alongside Ben Simmons and James Harden. Once he became Philadelphia’s full-time point guard, he had to learn when to hunt his own offense and when to organize everyone else.
Harden’s influence remains part of that education. Maxey studied Harden’s decision-making in pick-and-roll, worked on those reads over several summers and watched him establish a productive half-court partnership with Embiid. After Harden’s exit, Maxey and Embiid developed into one of the league’s more dangerous two-man combinations.
The growth has not been seamless. There have been rushed attempts, turnovers and stretches where Maxey did not strike the right balance between scoring and distributing. But the preseason has offered early signs of chemistry with James, a pairing Gansey believes can resemble, in style if not circumstance, the LeBron James-Kyrie Irving connection.
Gansey said he has long imagined Maxey in an Irving-like role beside James: a quick guard with enough handle to reach any area of the floor and finish once he gets there. He added that James is at a different stage of his career, but called Maxey one of the NBA’s best young point guards with room still to improve.
The relationship beyond the stat sheet
Maxey’s standing in Philadelphia has been built away from the court, too. Arkansas coach John Calipari, who coached Maxey at Kentucky, recently attended a Sixers game and was stopped by an arena security guard.
The guard told Calipari he loved “your kid,” referring not to one of Calipari’s children but to Maxey. He explained that Maxey makes a point of shaking his hand whenever he arrives at the arena.
“A kind act can take five minutes and make somebody feel good,” Calipari said. “That was when I understood the kind of effect Tyrese was having around Philadelphia.”
Calipari remembered seeing Maxey’s confidence immediately. In his first Kentucky game, at Madison Square Garden against top-ranked Michigan State, Maxey buried a 30-footer with the Wildcats up two to finish the win. Calipari did not want that attempt, but Maxey took it anyway. The coach told an assistant afterward that the freshman was special.
Calipari remains surprised Maxey lasted until the 20th selection in the 2020 draft, noting that the canceled NCAA Tournament during the COVID period denied teams another chance to evaluate him.
Gansey got an early reminder of Maxey’s personality at his introductory news conference as Philadelphia’s lead basketball executive. Gansey’s son Griffin wore a Maxey jersey with Donovan Mitchell shoes. Maxey reached out to say he appreciated the jersey but thought Griffin needed a footwear change, drawing laughs from both men.
For Maxey, Philadelphia has been the place where a young player became an adult. He arrived from Kentucky living on his own for the first time, learning the basics of managing a home and caring for a dog. He now has a family and a daughter.
“I came here basically as a child,” Maxey said. “Philadelphia and the Sixers gave me room to grow, and I am grateful for that.”
James sees a familiar connection
James has repeatedly pointed to Maxey as a major reason he chose Philadelphia. Their relationship began before this season, when Maxey visited James’ home as a teenager and played video games with Bronny and Bryce James. On the floor, their preseason minutes have suggested a partnership that can put pressure on defenses in either direction: James can direct the offense while Maxey cuts and attacks gaps, or Maxey can force the first rotation and let James create from there.
Maxey also has experience fitting teammates into favorable spots. He learned how to operate beside Harden and Embiid, then worked to put George in situations where he could be effective. Brown and James present another version of the same assignment, while the long-established Maxey-Embiid connection should remain the roster’s most instinctive one.
Philadelphia’s title hopes will ask more than raw production from its point guard. Maxey was strong against Boston in last season’s playoffs before struggling in the series against the Knicks. On Tuesday, he will watch New York’s banner rise and begin the work of trying to bring one to Philadelphia.
“That is the objective,” Maxey said. “But it comes in small steps: one day, one game, continuing to improve and trying to win as much as possible.”
