Tyrese Maxey is playing freely — and speaking up — in quest for Sixers turnaround and a steady ‘flow state’

Tyrese Maxey poked his head around a makeshift curtain inside the 76ers’ practice facility, then dropped a smiling “Hey, buddy” to VJ Edgecombe.

Edgecombe, the prized rookie guard, had just revealed during his first media day news conference that, on a summer visit to Disneyland organized by Maxey, Edgecombe’s new teammate had made him “wear some, like, Goofy hat. I had no choice.”

“I’ll make him wear it again when we go to Orlando,” Maxey said before disappearing back behind the curtain.

That playful public exchange demonstrates another step in Maxey’s evolution into a Sixers cornerstone. Now entering his sixth NBA season, Maxey is a bridge between veterans such as former MVP Joel Embiid (who nicknamed Maxey “The Franchise” because of his diligent work ethic and endearing personality) and youngsters such as Edgecombe, who can learn plenty from Maxey’s impressive early career.

» READ MORE: Joel Embiid is embracing his new reality and a potentially new role for the Sixers

But the 2024-25 season was miserable for the Sixers and disappointing individually for Maxey, who missed the final 22 games with a finger injury after becoming an All-Star and being named Most Improved Player in 2023-24. Now, the 24-year-old point guard feels responsible for setting the standard with daily habits and a playing style that can fuel an immediate turnaround — and last into the future.

To do that, Maxey has continued to commit to connecting with teammates. And to playing freely. And, now, to speaking up.

“I have just been a lot more vocal on things that I see and things that I want to try to help fix,” Maxey said. “And that’s not just because I’m older. I think it’s more because I want to win.”

Once Maxey’s injured little finger healed, he invited Justin Edwards to his hometown, Dallas, to train. A few weeks later, right after the draft, Maxey called Edgecombe to arrange workouts together in Philly. They wound up in Los Angeles, where Sixers assistant coach Rico Hines stages his well-known summer pickup games.

Cue the detour to the Happiest Place on Earth.

Though it was silly to witness “a lot of 6-foot-7, 6-foot-8 guys trying to ride a roller coaster,” Maxey recently said, he does believe fostering off-court friendship can lead to on-court cohesion. It is why Maxey also has begun dabbling in video games, which he previously did not play much but is a common hobby among his younger teammates.

Yet the fun peppered what Edgecombe now realizes were “regular ’Rese workouts.” During those morning sessions, Maxey drilled shooting and finishing with the rookie, how to play with pace, and how to find different angles while handling and distributing the ball.

“It was a sign that he actually cared,” Edgecombe said. “He actually wants to also see me get better and build chemistry.”

This has been an emphasis from coach Nick Nurse since the James Harden trade in 2023, when the ball literally and metaphorically was handed to Maxey. Using one’s voice is simply part of organizing the team as a point guard, Nurse said. When asked for examples of Maxey’s vocal uptick during this preseason, Nurse repeated the word “many.”

“I don’t want to tell you what they are,” Nurse said. “But there have been many. Many that would have been surprising, that he wouldn’t have done a couple years ago. Many.”

» READ MORE: VJ Edgecombe outpacing Sixers expectations — and bringing his lofty goals into view

That description already is different from last season. There was not as much opportunity for Maxey to arrange summer workouts with teammates because he uncharacteristically backed off his own training to limit injury risk before he could sign his max contract in July. He said he planned to immediately become more vocal with teammates once practices began, but “I didn’t really get going the way I needed to.”

Neither did the Sixers, to be fair. A team with championship aspirations face-planted during a 3-14 start, with Embiid and fellow perennial All-Star Paul George sidelined by injuries that lingered for the rest of the season. One time Maxey did hold a teammate accountable when he called Embiid out for tardiness during a postgame team meeting in a November loss at the Miami Heat, and it leaked to the media.

And although Maxey had morphed into an effective on-court partner for Embiid, he struggled as the team’s top offensive option.

Maxey acknowledged that he faced defensive coverages he had never seen before. He averaged a career-high 26.3 points and 6.1 assists, but his efficiency dipped and turnovers went up. The finger injury derailed his normally dangerous three-point shooting, including an 0-for-10 mark in a late-February loss on the same Madison Square Garden court where he had catapulted himself into national stardom in the previous spring’s playoffs.

As the season progressed, Maxey did gain confidence in “manipulating” the opposing defense. That became a focus in offseason film study, during which he critiqued possessions when he got sped up and deciphered how to lure specific defenders into an action. He also recruited high school friends to mimic “blitzing” and other swarming schemes, a callback to when he used those pals to help him identify passing reads during the 2023 offseason.

“My rookie year through my third year, I used to get so angry at Joel sometimes when [he’d] be getting double-teamed,” Maxey said, “and I’m like, ‘Bro, I’m wide-open.’ And he’s like, ‘Bro, I can’t see you.’

“Then people started double-teaming me, and people were like, ‘Bro, I’m open.’ And I said, ‘Trust me I really can’t see you.’”

Beyond Maxey further establishing that leadership, Nurse now wants him to resume firing a barrage of three-pointers in transition and from even farther beyond the arc. His offseason checklist also included increasing strength on his 6-foot-2 frame so he can play with more physicality when driving into the paint.

Those skills are weapons within the Sixers’ systemic offensive tweaks, with a goal to play faster, emphasize passing, and generate buckets even when Embiid and/or George miss time.

Edgecombe, Quentin Grimes, and, eventually, Jared McCain also are capable ballhandlers, allowing Maxey to play more shooting guard. Maxey’s experience — first in a three-guard lineup his one college season at Kentucky, then while sharing the floor with Ben Simmons and Harden as a young professional — has prepared him to toggle between both backcourt roles.

During early practices, Nurse said, Maxey would alternate between bringing the ball up on one possession, then deferring to Edgecombe on the next. By Day 3, the coach said, Maxey began to identify gaps in the defenses and opportunities to unleash his speed on cuts and when coming off screens.

» READ MORE: Seven burning questions for the Sixers season, including VJ Edgecombe’s impact and Joel Embiid and Paul George’s health

And when Maxey told his coach that he did not feel he had the ball enough in the Sixers’ preseason opener against the New York Knicks in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates, Nurse countered with, “That was about as free and easy as you’ve played offense that I can remember.”

“You had great shots,” Nurse told his point guard. “You had some cuts for backdoors. … You did that without dribbling in circles for 20 seconds and trying to find something, flying into brick walls. You just were really moving.”

That on-court rhythm is powered by a fresh mindset. Maxey candidly acknowledged the emotional weight of last season, while absorbing the mounting losses (and being tasked with attempting to explain them in interviews) for the first time in his basketball life. There were times his family and close friends remarked that he was not smiling as much.

So he began “really focusing” on his mental health, regularly journaling and putting goals in writing. His joy had noticeably returned during an appearance at summer league in Las Vegas, when he held a joint media availability with close friend and new Sixers signee Trendon Watford. At media day, he opened his press conference by asking onlookers if he should keep the white arm sleeve with his game day jersey.

“My spirits have to be high for this team and for this organization and for my game as well,” he said. “I think that’s what I’ll do this year, and we’ll be better.”

That spirit has appeared during one-on-one drills at the end of practices, when his opponents have ranged from George to Edgecombe to two-way forward Dominick Barlow. Kyle Lowry, a 20-year NBA veteran and long-respected leader, has “pushed” Maxey to speak up during the more intense segments of practice. Ditto for fellow veteran Eric Gordon, who recently said “it’s been time for [Maxey] to be a leader.” Embiid first approached Maxey about this at the end of the 2023-24 season and appreciates that the point guard balances Embiid’s quieter demeanor.

“That’s why it’s such a good match,” Embiid said. “… But it goes back to just him being a good kid. Willing to learn. Humble. Listens. I think that goes a long way.”

When a reporter began a media day question to Maxey with “Six years ago,” he jokingly responded with a whistle and “Why you got to do that?” He called himself “old” several times during the preseason, even though he turns 25 next month.

But after totaling an efficient 27 points and seven assists in the Sixers’ win over the Minnesota Timberwolves in Friday’s preseason finale, Maxey casually leaned back in his locker room chair. He spoke glowingly about Embiid’s return from knee problems and Edgecombe’s early development, bridging the veteran and young portions of the roster. When asked about his final preparations before Wednesday’s season opener at the Boston Celtics, he started with “just stay in a flow state,” a mantra he heard from his younger brother during the summer, and “I took it from him.”

Three days later, Maxey stood under a basket inside the Sixers’ practice facility, arm slung around McCain. He told McCain that he missed playing with him, that he will make the Sixers even better once he returns from thumb surgery.

Then, Maxey walked across the court for his final media session before the 2025-26 season begins. Six minutes later, he chugged right back to that basket on the opposite end, to put up more shots.

“He’s happy. He’s a worker,” Nurse said. “He’s in here early. He wants to practice. He wants to go over things. And that’s part of being a leader, too — that you’ve got that mental motor that’s capable to continue to work over and over every day.”