As expected, Joel Embiid’s NBA All-Star player partner is not leaving the Philadelphia 76ers.
According to ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski, restricted free-agent guard Tyrese Maxey has agreed to a five-year, $204 million contract with the Sixers. The 23-year-old is signed through the 2028-29 season and joins newest 76er Paul George as Philadelphia retools with a new Big 3 to challenge the Boston Celtics in the Eastern Conference.
Maxey averaged 25.9 points (45/37/87 shooting), 6.2 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game last season. He won the Most Improved Player award and made his first All-Star appearance.
Embiid and Maxey led Philadelphia to a 47-35 record, seventh place in the East and a berth in the play-in tournament last season. The Sixers fell to the New York Knicks in six games in the opening round of the playoffs. Maxey averaged 29.8 points (48/40/89), 6.8 assists and 5.2 rebounds per game in the series.
Maxey’s rise to a max-salary star was unexpected. The 21st overall draft pick in 2020, he played 15 minutes a night as a rookie, almost entirely off the bench, and averaged just eight points on 30.1 percent 3-point shooting. He started 74 games the following season and finished sixth in Most Improved Player voting — two years before winning the award. He’ll play half of the 2022-23 season off the bench, making room for backcourt partner James Harden, before taking over the point guard duties when Harden left last year.
Last season was an unmitigated success for Maxey, though his defensive shortcomings may now come under the microscope with him receiving 25 percent of the salary cap. New York Knicks guard Jalen Brunson outscored Maxey in their first-round playoff series, despite Maxey’s 46-point outburst in Game 5.
Maxey is far from done. Embiid’s happiness in Philadelphia will depend largely on Maxey’s development, along with the team’s prospects in free agency. The Sixers entered this summer with more than $50 million in cap space, much of which has been spent as teams also agreed to free-agent deals with center Andre Drummond and wing Kelly Oubre Jr.
