The Philadelphia 76ers have added a couple extremely high-profile names this offseason, somewhat understandably overshadowing the fact that Tyrese Maxey is coming off an All-NBA Third Team season. Still just 25 years old and with his 1 percent better mantra, it’s reasonable to expect Maxey to continue improving coming off that career-best campaign.
He recently conducted an interview with HoopsHype covering a wide variety of topics heading into this much-anticipated 2026-27 NBA season. I’ve excerpted a few key passages below with my reactions, but be sure to check out the entire Q&A.
“What parts of the game did you use as motivation to prove something?
I think the biggest things that I wanted to prove was my leadership, my playmaking abilities, and my defense. I think I’m good defensively and I can cause a lot of havoc, make a lot of disruptions. I’m able to block shots, get steals, and do those type of things, and hold my own one-on-one. And then just my leadership qualities. I’ve been trying to become a better leader every single day, try to encourage my teammates, and then playmaking, getting into the paint. I’ve done a really good job of drawing a lot of attention these last couple years, and now it’s just about getting to the paint, creating plays for everybody, creating shots for everybody.”
It’s revealing that leadership is the first thing Tyrese mentioned. You could clearly see the shift the last couple of years with the Sixers being “Joel Embiid’s team” to Maxey’s team. His stepping up as a leader and filling that vacuum was the biggest reason. I’m obviously curious how that adjusts with LeBron James and Jaylen Brown both entering the fold.
“What do you say to VJ Edgecombe after he called you out for lying about knowing beforehand of the LeBron-Sixers signing?
[Laughs] I had to say I love you so much and I’ll talk to you probably later on today. So just know that I love you, kid. And sometimes what you don’t know won’t hurt you. [Laughs]”
I just thought this was a fun anecdote. Even getting caught in a “lie”, Tyrese’s sparkling personality shines through. The vibes are high with the current roster.
“Do you feel added pressure now with the moves you guys made?
I work really, really, really, really, really, really hard, so I don’t really have that type of pressure, you know what I’m saying? The pressure that I put, I put on myself because I work extremely hard and I do these different things to try to make myself better every single day. But outside noise, it doesn’t really bother me.”
A lot of guys might get overwhelmed by the increased attention and scrutiny now on this Sixers group, or shrink under the bright lights sure to come, but Maxey is the last guy I’d be worried about in that regard.
“Have the Sixers settled on a pecking order for last-shot situations?
I think it depends on what the situation is, you know what I’m saying? I think we have confidence in a lot of different guys. I think people want to say VJ is our fifth option, but last year he took a lot of shots in the clutch. He made a lot of shots in the clutch. There was a couple times, where I got doubled and Joel [Embiid] got doubled and we had to kick it out to VJ [Edgecombe] and he had to make a shot. It’s going to be different people. We’re going to see how it goes and see how it flows.
I think the biggest thing is we can’t have anybody, nobody on this team can have an ego. We have two guys that have won regular-season MVPs, two guys that have won Finals MVPs, multiple gold medal winners on this team, multiple 25-plus points per game, All-Stars, All-NBA. We’re all pretty accomplished. So the ego has to drop and you have to do it collectively.”
This hits at the question on everyone’s mind with the new roster: how are so many players used to being “the guy” with the ball in their hands going to react to maybe having to be a third or fourth option? Tyrese gives the appropriate answer here. Everyone is going to need to make some sacrifices for the greater good, but I honestly think they have the right group in place. LeBron has been dumbly criticized plenty in the past for making the right basketball play rather than playing hero ball at the end of games. Brown has all the motivation in the world to make this season a success and prove the doubters wrong. Embiid is at the stage of his career where I think he’s content to let others take the wheel if it means winning. Maxey and VJ Edgecombe are both young guys with A+ attitudes in terms of being unselfish teammates. I am genuinely unconcerned about this dynamic.
“What was the biggest lesson you learned from the season before last?
The biggest thing I learned was patience. I mean, I got hurt like three times that year, I think, and it wasn’t like real bad injuries, but it was little nagging injuries that they didn’t want me to play through because it would just make it worse and worse and worse. And I’m somebody who just loves playing basketball, so I had to be patient. I had to kind of sit out some of those times where I wish I could have played, but I probably shouldn’t play. The medical staff had the best interest for me. And then just patience, and just mentally, when you lose. That was my first time losing like that in my life, you know, consecutive games in a row in a row in a row. I just made a vow to myself that it wouldn’t happen to me again.”
I’ll end with this thought: there’s a timeline where things completely unraveled for the Sixers after that 2024-25 season. They caught a little lotttery luck in getting the pick used to select VJ Edgecombe. His arrival helped the Sixers be just good enough to squeak into the playoffs and come back against the Celtics. Boston then blows up the roster with the Brown trade, who upon arriving in Philadelphia, gives LeBron the thought that the Sixers can be true title contenders. If the Sixers end up with someone like Ace Bailey or Tre Johnson (no shade at them but they clearly didn’t have the Year 1 impact of Edgecombe), we might be looking at the Sixers missing the postseason and talks to completely blow up the roster. Instead, look at us now. We are truly living the “Can’t believe this is my life” LeBron meme.
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