How Tyrese Maxey ascended: 76ers star has everyone's attention as he eyes NBA scoring crown

MILWAUKEE -- As Tyrese Maxey walked out of the visitor's locker room at Fiserv Forum late on Nov. 20, game ball in hand after scoring a career-high 54 points to lead the Philadelphia 76ers to a 123-114 overtime win over the Milwaukee Bucks, he bragged about receiving a text from Minnesota Timberwolves star Anthony Edwards. 

"'Filthy bastard,'" Maxey said Edwards wrote. 

None of the main characters in Milwaukee that night could match Edwards' candor, but they all expressed the same sentiment. Sixers coach Nick Nurse said Maxey is "just really talented" and Paul George called him "special." Rookie of the Year candidate VJ Edgecombe proclaimed that Maxey is the "best point guard in the NBA."

Whether you prefer the PG-13 description of Maxey or PG-13's, everyone agrees that the sixth-year pro is playing the best basketball of his career and has ascended to a new level. 

Maxey is averaging 32.2 points, 4.4 rebounds and 7.5 assists on 47/40.9/87.8 shooting splits, all while playing 39.9 minutes a night. He's second in the league in scoring, tied for second in 3-pointers, seventh in assists and first in minutes by a wide margin (Edgecombe is second at 37.4). The only other players in the top 10 in scoring and assists are MVP candidates Nikola Jokić and Luka Dončić.

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Sam Quinn

While Maxey likely isn't going to win that award, he's worked his way into the conversation -- he currently has the sixth-best odds (+5000 at Caesars) -- which is a testament to the work he's done to carry the Sixers. No one knew what to expect in Philadelphia this season given the team's injury issues, but despite Joel Embiid being limited to six appearances, George having played three times and Kelly Oubre Jr. and Jared McCain both missing time, they are off to a 9-8 start, which has them in ninth place in the Eastern Conference and right in the mix for an automatic playoff berth. 

Ironically, Maxey credited an injury and the Sixers' disastrous 2024-25 campaign with helping him improve. He sat out of the team's final 22 games with a finger sprain, and they finished 24-58 to miss the playoffs for the first time since 2017. The extended break allowed Maxey to fully recover and get in better shape. He also had "a lot of time to really focus on getting better" and to be a "student of the game." Together with his friend Jordan Harris, Maxey watched film "every day" over the summer. 

Maxey was no slouch prior to this season. He was named Most Improved Player of the Year and an All-Star in 2024, and was widely considered an All-Star snub in 2025. But what he's doing to start this campaign is off the charts. He's tied for second in the league in 40-point games (three) and tied for third in 30-point outings (nine). When he put up 54 points and nine assists against the Bucks, he joined Wilt Chamberlain as the only players in Sixers history with at least 50 points and nine assists in a game. 

"He's got a unique double threat which is the speed, which will get him past people, and then the really deep shooting range, so there's a lot of space he's playing in there," Nurse said. Over 80% of Maxey's shot attempts have come either within 10 feet or from behind the 3-point line.

Maxey's shooting has been particularly impressive no matter which way you slice it. Of the top 10 players in 3-point point attempts per game, only Grayson Allen is making a higher percentage than Maxey. Of the nine players who have taken at least 100 3s from 25-29 feet -- the NBA 3-point line is 23 feet, 9 inches from the basket at its furthest point -- Maxey's 39.4% clip ranks second. And of the 76 players taking at least four catch-and-shoot 3s per game, Maxey checks in fourth at 51.6%. 

NBA's best long-range shooters (25-29 feet)

"I remember early his first year, I made a comment to some of our media in Philadelphia and they thought I was nuts as usual," said Bucks coach Doc Rivers, who coached Maxey for three season in Philadelphia. "I said 'Tyrese Maxey is a great shooter.' I think he was shooting 21% at the time, and I said 'I've never seen a guy make that many shots in practice and it not go in in the game.' Early on it wasn't. But if you were around him every day, you just know it. You sense it."

The shots are certainly going in now. Overall, Maxey is at 40.9% on 9.6 attempts per game. In NBA history, the only players to shoot over 40% on at least nine attempts a night for an entire season are Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, Damian Lillard and Malik Beasley. "I don't shoot shots that I don't work on. I don't just try stuff," Maxey said. "Every shot that I shoot is a shot that I worked on before, so I have confidence in it."

When Maxey isn't pulling up from well behind the arc, he's blowing past opponents to get into the lane. His 14.9 drives per game rank 10th in the league, and his 5.6 restricted area attempts per game rank sixth among guards. When he gets to the rim, he's shooting 62.1%, a highly respectable mark considering he stands just 6-foot-2. 

Now the top name on the opponent scouting report, Maxey has to adjust his game-to-game approach depending on what's being thrown at him. "I've seen a lot of different things, like a lot," Maxey said. "The ball went up for the tip in Toronto, I was getting face-guarded immediately. I've been trapped, I've seen blitzes." The only coverage that's worked to any degree is selling out to eliminate him as a scorer, as the Orlando Magic did in a blowout win Tuesday when they held Maxey to a season-low 20 points and 15 shots -- eight below his season average. 

Maxey has responded to the increased attention by being a willing passer. His 73.4 passes per game are second in the league, and his assists per game (7.8) and assist rate (32.5%) are both career-highs. Despite having to make so many decisions every night, Maxey has limited his mistakes. He's one of just five players in the league with a usage rate of at least 29% and a turnover rate below 10% (min. 10 games played). 

The big question is whether Maxey can keep this up, especially if Embiid and George are not going to play on a regular basis. "He might not want to say it, but I know he's tired, he's gotta be tired," George said. Maxey hasn't missed a game this season despite some bumps and bruises, and has played at least 30 minutes every night. He's been above 40 minutes eight times and surpassed 45 minutes twice. 

Nurse has always leaned heavily on his stars, and while there have been some opportunities to get Maxey some rest -- Why was he still playing down 40 in the third quarter against the Magic? -- the Sixers fall apart when Maxey sits. They have a plus-2.8 net rating when he's on the floor and a minus-11.6 net rating when he sits. 

"It's evident how much we need him," Nurse told The Athletic earlier this month. "The minutes are going to be there. They are going to be at around 40. He's got to carry the load. That's what we ask him to do, and he's figured it out."

The single-minded Maxey remains unfazed by the discussion.  "If I can run, I'm playing, Maxey said. "I don't really care, I just want to win. However much I have to play to win, that's what I'm gonna do. 

The Sixers have asked Maxey to do it all, and he's answered the bell. The rest of the league is now on full alert.