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Tim BontempsESPN
WHILE THE NBA world waited on the offseason’s biggest drama, Philadelphia 76ers coach Doc Rivers pondered the future of a point guard not named Ben Simmons.
When Rivers met with his coaches ahead of the 2021-22 season to discuss lineups, he made a bold declaration:
No matter what happened with Simmons, Tyrese Maxey was going to start for the 76ers.
“That [was met] with a little, like, ‘How are we going to start him with Ben?'” Rivers said during practice last week. “And I said, ‘I don’t know, but he’s starting.'”
Maxey had played just 15.3 minutes per game as a rookie, showing flashes of promise, such as a 39-point, 44-minute performance last January, when four 76ers starters were sidelined due to COVID-19 health and safety protocols. He dropped 30 points in 35 minutes in the 2020-21 regular-season finale four months later.
But this was a leap to full-time starting point guard for a team with high-profile veterans, championship aspirations and the league’s biggest saga looming over it.
Predictably, as the season began there were plenty of growing pains.
“You couldn’t hear anything but ‘Tyrese! What the hell, Tyrese!'” 76ers forward Georges Niang said, imitating Rivers’ voice.
“And, you’re like, ‘Man, is this kid gonna fold?'”
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He didn’t. And after escaping that early-season commentary from Rivers, Maxey has not only become a fan favorite, but a critical player next to Joel Embiid and James Harden.
As the 76ers sit one win over the Toronto Raptors away from reaching the Eastern Conference semifinals, it’s Maxey — equipped with bursts of speed and energy and a historically improved jump shot — who could determine just how high this group’s ceiling can be raised.
“In my exit interview [last season], my goal was to get one percent better every single day,” Maxey says. “I stuck with it the entire summer.”
The result? Maxey has evolved from spark-plug rookie to offensive threat whom defenses can’t afford to ignore.
Where Maxey lands on ESPN’s…
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