The 2023-24 season did not end as the Philadelphia 76ers had hoped.
A narrow 4.5-point average margin of defeat in their six-game series loss to the New York Knicks in the first round of the playoffs showed just how thin their margin for error was. Star center Joel Embiid suffered through various ailments for the duration.
The series also presented another opportunity for budding star Tyrese Maxey to showcase his wares on the national stage, and he delivered.
Now, the Sixers are expected to return the favor in the form of a handsome payday for Maxey.
“The team … is expected to re-sign Maxey, an All-Star point guard, to a five-year, $205 million deal,” The Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey wrote on June 4.
Tyrese Maxey put on an absolute SHOW in Game 5 with playoff career-highs in PTS and 3PM as the @sixers force a Game 6!
🔔 46 PTS
🔔 9 AST
🔔 7 3PM
🔔 Game-tying 3 to force OT
Game 6 is Thursday on TNT 🍿
Maxey averaged career highs with 25.9 points, 6.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per game this past season. He followed that by averaging 29.8 points on 59.5% true shooting and knocking down 40% of his looks from beyond the arc in the postseason.
It was an empathic stamp on his first All-Star campaign by winning Most Improved Player.
Tyrese Maxey Could Have to Wait for Sixers to Work Free Agency to Land Extension
Maxey was the No. 21 overall pick by the Sixers in the 2020 draft. He boasts the second-most win shares in the class, per Basketball Reference.
Only Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton has more.
“Maxey has had to wait nearly a year to sign a new contract, as Philadelphia prioritized having cap space,” ESPN’s Bobby Marks wrote. “Because Maxey has a $13 million free agent hold and his next contract will likely start at $35 million (a projected five years, $204.5 million), Maxey will once again be in a holding pattern until Philadelphia exhausts all cap space options.
“Signing Maxey to a max deal is the easy part. The creativity will come with how the 76ers’ front office assembles a championship roster with a less-than-star-studded free-agent class.”
Paul George’s next team:
Sixers +200
Magic +300
Spurs +900
Knicks +1200
Cavs +1400
Hawks +1400
They have been linked to several stars in free agency and trade rumors this offseason.
Pompey lists LeBron James of the Los Angeles Lakers, Jimmy Butler of the Miami Heat, and Brandon Ingram of the New Orleans Pelicans as potential trade targets. They could also target Los Angeles Clippers star Paul George. Like James, George can opt out of his contract.
Sixers Aiming to Retain Key Trio in Free Agency
Pompey previously reported on their interest in some of their cap space spending it on their own players this offseason.
“Based on those constraints, a source said Nico Batum, Kelly Oubre Jr., and Kyle Lowry are the free agents the team most likely would like to re-sign,” Pompey wrote on June 2. “Not only do they mesh well with All-Stars Maxey and Joel Embiid, they might not command a lot of money in the free-agent market.”
Batum is finishing a two-year, $22.5 million contract. He earned more than double what Oubre (one year, $2.9 million) and Lowry (one year, $2.8 million) did in 2023-24.
The sequence that won the Sixers the game:
1) Jaquez swipes down on Embiid, gives the Sixers free throws
2) Lowry poke-around steal, Batum saves the ball, Embiid 3 in transition
3) Embiid circus shot and-one off the O board
4) Embiid doubled, finds Oubre for another and-one
Similar deals would cost roughly $17 million, giving Philly $48 million to spend in free agency.
What they do with that remaining space is critical. The Sixers still have not made it beyond the second round of the postseason in Embiid’s career. They are coming off their second first-round exit in the last seven seasons.
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Sixers ‘Expected to Re-Sign’ Tyrese Maxey to $205 Million Contract: Report