DETROIT -- Playing with Philadelphia 76ers star LeBron James is no easy task. He is a unique superstar with an incredibly high basketball IQ and it takes a lot of work to be able to find a way to be effective out on the floor next to him.
Tyrese Maxey has found a way to do so in the early part of the season. The 7-year guard is averaging 28.0 points, 5.4 assists, and 3.6 rebounds while shooting 48.6% from the floor. In the early part of the season, Maxey and James have found a way to dominate as the Sixers have a plus-7.1 net rating when the two of them share the floor per databallr.
It's easy to compare, but the immediate thought is James' partnership with Kyrie Irving during his days with the Cleveland Cavaliers as well as with Dwyane Wade while
with the Miami Heat. Watching those duos on the floor helped Maxey grow something similar with James while in Philadelphia.
"I was 16 years old and I watched probably every playoff game that they had," Maxey said after a win over the Pistonson Wednesday. "So, I was a big Kyrie fan growing up and I was a big D-Wade fan. So somehow I had to watch LeBron. But I did learn a lot from that because LeBron does a good job of getting those guys open."
James is so fantastic at orchestrating things on the offensive end. He picked the Pistons apart on Wednesday just by making sure everybody was in the right places on the floor as he was barking out orders and found his teammates with some eye-popping passes. Just as he did with guys like Irving and Wade in the past, and even Steph Curry and Kevin Durant in the Olympics, he is doing it with Maxey in Philadelphia. There have been plenty of instances in which James has hit Maxey right in his shooting pocket for an easy 3-point look or off a pindown screen or whatever action the Sixers are running.
Maxey, possessing a high understanding of this game in his own right, also understands how he can get James going on the offensive end.
"He does a good job of just being in the pocket for him so he can get open so we can hit him," Maxey added. "So I've been watching a lot of that old Kyrie film, watched a little bit of Steph and KD film and then just film with me and Bron. So, it's been good."
The Sixers will look to continue to grow as a group when they continue the road trip on Friday against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
This article originally appeared on Sixers Wire: Sixers' Tyrese Maxey talks preparation for playing with LeBron James
