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Tyrese Maxey has quickly established himself as one of the better players in the NBA today, earning his first All-Star selection in 2024 and a spot as one of the finalists for the NBA's Most Improved Player Award.
Making his debut in 2020 after being drafted by the Philadelphia 76ers with the 21st overall pick, Maxey has grown from strength to strength, becoming an All-Star after starting as a role player with just 7 total starts in his first season.
Before he took off for the City of Brotherly Love, he was making noise for the University of Kentucky at the college level.
Tyrese Maxey's collegiate basketball career
Tyrese Maxey was a one-and-done for the Kentucky Wildcats in the 2019-20 season. The point guard averaged 14 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists, starting 28 out of the 31 games he played.
The team leader in minutes, Maxey started off his year with the Wildcats with a bang, dropping a school freshman debut record by scoring 26 points in a win over Michigan State.
After a rough 4-game stretch, where he went 3/12 from 3, he broke out of his slump against Lamar Cardinals. A 27-point, 7-rebound outing against Louisville earned him NCAA Division I Player of the Week and the SEC Freshman of the Week honor.
The COVID-19 pandemic, however, led to the cancellation of the SEC Tournament and the NCAA Tournament for that season. Although for his efforts, the 6-foot-2 guard earned a spot on the All-SEC Second Team as well as the SEC All-Freshman Team.
After the COVID-induced pause came into effect, he announced his intention to join the 2020 NBA draft, along with teammates Nick Richards and Immanuel Quickley.
The case for Tyrese Maxey as Most Improved Player
Alongside Alperen Şengün of the Houston Rockets and Coby White of the Chicago Bulls, Tyrese Maxey was revealed as the finalist for the Most Improved Player Award by the NBA.
The combo guard for Philly averaged 25.9 ppg and 6.2 assists for the season. White, another candidate from the guard position, averaged 19.1 ppg, 4.5 rpg and 5.1 apg on the year. The Turkish-born Şengün was the sole center on the list, taking an all-around leap, improving to 21.1 ppg, 9.3 rpg and 5 apg per game.
Maxey's case is two-fold. One comes from his contributions to a playoff team, where he held down the bulk of the scoring load when Joel Embiid went down with a knee injury for nearly half of the season.
In the games they played together, Philadelphia had a 31-7 record. Both the Bulls and the Rockets missed the playoffs, with the former knocked out in the Play-In round.
For Maxey, the improvement as a scorer and playmaker was hard to miss as he took on sole responsibility for an offense that once had James Harden at the helm, before an early-season trade to the Los Angeles Clippers.
He improved from 20.3 points the past year to 25.9 points and his assists jumped to 6.2, nearly double from last year's 3.2. As he became the sole focus of the offense, Tyrese showed minor regression in efficiency, 45% and 37.3% from 3, down from 48.1% and 43.4% from 3 the previous year.
The jump for Şengün was just as dramatic, as he went from contributor to lead facilitator of a rejuvenated Houston team that finished with a 41-41 record.
He was a problem both as a scorer and passer, finishing the year with 21.1 ppg and 5.0 assists, both marks up from last year's averages of 14.8 and 3.9 respectively. His efficiency was essentially the same from the field, with some regression as a long-range threat. With an increased number of attempts (1.8 to 0.8 in 2022-23), his 3-point efficiency dropped to 29.7% from 33.3% the previous year.
Out of the three, Coby White had the most dramatic increase in overall numbers from the field. After averaging under 10 points(9.7) and under 3 rebounds (2.9) and assists (2.8), White became a focal point in the Bulls offense that was missing both Lonzo Ball and Zach LaVine.
With the increased opportunity, White exploded with a career year, averaging 19.1 points, 4.5 rebounds, and 5.1 assists, while maintaining his efficiency from the previous season (44.7% from the field and 37.6% from long range).
All 3 candidates have a viable case for the league's Most Improved Award. Who do you think is the most deserving? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below.
