Like nearly everything involving the 2024-25 Philadelphia 76ers, last season was not a positive campaign for Tyrese Maxey. Hampered by hamstring and finger injuries during the season, the 24-year-old played
in a career-low 52 games. He was also yet another victim of what I’ll politely term Sixers medical staff tomfoolery, trying to adjust his shooting motion to shoot the ball with only three fingers, rather than simply being made to sit out because the pinky on his right shooting hand was so jacked up. Correspondingly, Maxey’s mark of 33.7 percent from three-point range was well off his previous seasons, only ahead of the small sample from his rookie year.
Big picture, a player having a down season isn’t much of a cause for concern. Most players have them from time to time, after all. It was surprising from Maxey, however, given his penchant for continually moving the bar forward from season to season. Behind his one percent better mantra, Tyrese rapidly worked his way from rookie bench player in a sparing role, to legitimate playoff factor, to solid starter, to Most Improved Player and All-Star, to guy putting the team on his back and scoring 46 points in a Game 5 playoff victory. Every time we would reasonably expect Maxey’s progression to plateau, he would bust through the wall like the Juggernaut and unlock some new level of play. So when that development all came to a halt last year, it seemed extra out of the ordinary. The season from hell even came for our smiling assassin.
On the optimistic side heading into this season, I don’t expect Maxey to have forgotten how to shoot (despite that being something Sixers fans have gone through with guards in the past). With all of his digits healthy and intact, I expect he’ll be back closer to his 38.1 percent career mark from downtown. If there is anyone equipped to mentally shake off a down period and come back stronger, it’s Tyrese.
Now, are there some questions that need to be answered? Sure. With Joel Embiid only appearing in 19 games last season, we got an extended look at Maxey as the focal point of the offense. The results were not entirely encouraging. His 2.4 turnovers per game were a career-high and we still didn’t see a lot of the advanced playmaking looks as a passer we might have hoped to find. Things could certainly improve with a healthier, improved supporting cast around Tyrese, plus the fact that he’s still only 24 years old and continuing to progress in various areas. But it’s something to keep an eye on, anyway. Even if his ceiling is “highly efficient second option,” that’s far from the end of the world.
We also want to see how Maxey fares within the Sixers’ new “you can never have too many guards” era. Can he and Jared McCain function as the starting backcourt of the future? How about third overall pick VJ Edgecombe and forever restricted free agent Quentin Grimes? None of these guys are particularly large in a league where seven-footers are increasingly handling the ball more and more. Philadelphia will have to assess how they all work together and Maxey is a part of that equation.
Ultimately, I think Sixers fans should have nothing but positive expectations for Tyrese Maxey heading into the 2025-26 season. He hit the first minor injury-related speed bump of his career, but nobody outworks this guy on or off the court and I fully expect him to be better than ever. It was only 17 months ago that Maxey turned into a human flamethrower against the Knicks. He’ll be that guy again, and if the Sixers return to a place where they deserve to have an All-Star, Tyrese will be right back in the forefront of that conversation.
