Tyrese Maxey Is Putting The NBA On Notice

Amid the Ben Simmons saga, combo guard Tyrese Maxey has rightfully earned the starting point guard job for the Philadelphia 76ers. The speedy guard from Kentucky is averaging 17.6 points, 4.6 assists, and 3.6 rebounds throughout the early parts of the 2021-2022 season.

Maxey has not only increased his scoring output by nine points per game from his rookie season so far, but his efficiency has skyrocketed too; in just his second year, Maxey is knocking on the door of the fabled 50/40/90 club.

He's also played in every single game, averaging 35 minutes per tilt, and has tallied four games of 40 minutes or more. Numbers aside, Maxey looks comfortable, confident, and everything like the scoring guard the Sixers needed when they selected him 21st overall in the 2020 NBA Draft.

Even though the Sixers have lost four straight, it's been no fault of Maxey, a player proving capable of running point guard on a winning NBA squad. This shouldn't come as a surprise: Maxey is an exceptional talent who gained experience wearing a number of different hats during his amateur career.

At Kentucky, Maxey played with Immanuel Quickley and Ashton Hagans, two ball dominant guards. There were times when Maxey brought the ball up and ran the offense, and times when he had to play off the ball and hit shots off of the catch. This is one of the many reasons that he's confident doing the likes of both things for the Sixers.

Additionally, his ability to make three-pointers off the dribble this season is a large reason why his scoring has increased. Last year, he only shot 30 percent from three, and hardly took shots off the bounce. Now, he's shooting 41 percent from deep on a high degree of difficulty—this year, 42 percent of Maxey's threes are unassisted, compared to only about 20 percent of them last year. By adding pull-up attempts to his game, Maxey opens up more driving lanes for himself. It's safe to say that part of his progress this year can be attributed to his insane work ethic.

After back-to-back 30 point games and a 24-point outing against the Indiana Pacers on Saturday, Maxey joined elite Sixers company by scoring at least 88 points during a three-game span—Jrue Holiday, Jerry Stackhouse and Allen Iverson are the only others to do so. While he certainly has a long way to go before he can be in the same sentence as someone like Bubba Chuck, Tyrese Maxey has certainly been a bundle of joy for the Sixers so far this season.