Getty Tyrese Maxey of the Philadelphia 76ers.
Tyrese Maxey is emerging as one of the best young stars in all of basketball, not just for the Philadelphia 76ers. His scoring bag is deep; the two-guard is capable of using his speed and athleticism to whizz past slower defenders while also pulling up when his perimeter guards are just a step too far away.
Maxey is talented, there’s no question. When the Sixers drafted him with the 21st pick in 2020, they took a chance on his pedigree: Maxey is a former top-10 high school player who slipped after a slow season with Kentucky. And he’s lived up to that pedigree through two seasons in Philadelphia. That’s because even more than his raw talent, he’s shown a willingness to improve his game to reach that All-Star-level ceiling.
Maxey also brings an infusion of youth to a roster that is quickly aging. Ben Simmons was replaced by the fading stardom of James Harden. PJ Tucker — now 37 — isn’t getting any younger either.
All of these factors should make Maxey untouchable in Philadelphia. But if he isn’t, he could well be packaged into a blockbuster trade to raise Philadelphia’s win-now ceiling.
Maxey Named the 76ers’ Top Trade Piece
Who wouldn’t want Maxey? The former Kentucky Wildcat exploded last season for 17.5 points on 42.7% shooting from three. And still, there’s room to grow.
If Maxey can pick up his volume of outside shots (only 4.2 per 36 minutes last season) and maintain his level of efficiency, he could become virtually unstoppable on offense. Even though he’s undersized at 6’2, he more than makes up for it in his blinding athleticism and transition play.
Again, Maxey should be untouchable. In fact, his strong play last season inspired heated debates over whether he was worth including in a trade for Kevin Durant.
always putting in the work.
But what if Maxey isn’t off the table? According to Justin Grasso of si.com, the return could be massive for Philadelphia’s top trade piece.
“If he isn’t untouchable, Maxey, paired with another player, may be used to land a big-name player given his high skill ceiling, which still has more than enough time to grow,” Grasso wrote on September 23.
Even if Maxey wasn’t off the table, the list of players the Sixers would even consider trading him for has to be small. At one point, Maxey might have been thrown into a potential Damien Lilliard or Bradley Beal trade. Now? The answer is almost surely a swift no from the Sixers’ front office.
Fortunately, fans don’t need to worry about a potential Maxey departure. Over the summer, he was named about as safe as they come on the Sixers’ roster.
The Sixers entered the summer knowing they needed to shake things up. The roster wasn’t good enough (yet again) to advance past the second round of playoffs. The bench unit was a borderline catastrophe.
So gradually all eyes turned towards the Sixers roster to predict who could be leveraged in a trade. But two names stood above the rest as completely off limits: Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey.
“‘Maxey is as close to untouchable as you could be,’ a source told PhillyVoice over the weekend,” Kyle Neubeck wrote on May 23.
Months later, it’s hard to say anything has changed. Perhaps the only difference is that James Harden is likely considered another “untouchable” along with Embiid and Maxey. But the front office did well to improve on the margins via free agency and trade without compromising Philadelphia’s championship core.