Why Tyrese Maxey Is the Key to the Sixers’ Success

The Philadelphia 76ers are loaded with talent. Joel Embiid has been the face of the franchise, and his development is what makes “The Process” so popular. They added LeBron James, the greatest basketball player of all time, and Jaylen Brown, who’s a two-time All-NBA player and Finals MVP.

The Sixers have three players who have all been top-10 in the league at one point in their careers, and the best player on their team, and the driving factor in their success this year, will come from Tyrese Maxey.

On back-to-back nights, the Sixers found themselves in tricky situations, and Maxey bailed them out with wonderful performances. I’m not sure Maxey is the best player in Philly, even though he might be; however, what intrigues me most is that he can do things none of his teammates can, and that’s so valuable in the modern NBA.

I’m not teaching anyone anything new by saying Maxey is a freak athlete, but being a freak athlete isn’t that special in the NBA. Maxey thrives at driving to the paint and finishing throught traffic. LeBron, Embiid, and (kinda) Brown have all been terrific paint finishers at one point in their careers, but they won’t be doing that as much in 2026.

Maxey is the Sixers’ offensive hub, and his ability to get two feet in the paint and find open shooters, or finish over bigger defenders, is invaluable to Philly. Unfortunately, I’m not sure the Sixers have enough shooting around Maxey to make that as beneficial, but that complaint is for a separate article.

Another thing that Maxey thrives at is pressuring ball handlers. I don’t even feel that Maxey is an elite defender, but he is elite at pressing, especially against weaker ball handlers. James Harden and Donovan Mitchell were incredibly pedestrian in the second half when they were dealing with his full court pressing. It led to a ton of turnovers from the Cavs, and lots of easy baskets in transition for the Sixers.

All of these parts of Maxey’s games are important, but he’s also averaged 30 points and 5.5 assist in just his first two games of the season. I’m not entirely sold on Philly’s roster construction, but having a workhorse like Maxey is going to solve a lot of problems. Injuries are always going to happen over the course of a season, but Maxey is the one player on the Sixers that needs to stay healthy.