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The NBA Most Improved Player Award may not quite be as glamorous as the Most Valuable Player or the Defensive Player of the Year award, but it highlights an important aspect of basketball, a player's growth. This season, the NBA's MIP award goes to Philadelphia 76ers' Tyrese Maxey.
Maxey earned 51 first-place votes, placing him over Chicago Bulls' Coby White and Houston Rockets' Alperen Sengun. This marks the second straight year that a Sixers player won some valuable hardware with Joel Embiid taking home the MVP last season.
Maxey showed the league and fans all season long that his hard work and his dedication to getting better paid off. However, incase some fans need more convincing that he deserves the NBA Most Improved Player Award, here are a few reasons.
3 reasons why Tyrese Maxey deserves NBA Most Improved Player Award for 2024
#1. His statistical improvements are the most impactful
The biggest basis for the NBA Most Improved Player Award is often how much a player's stats differ from the previous year. Tyrese Maxey's scoring went up by almost six points from 20.3 points per game last season to 25.9 ppg this year. His assists also made a jump from 3.5 apg to 6.2 apg.
Yes, Coby White improved the most in scoring, going from 9.7 ppg last season to 19.1 ppg in 2023-24, but they were barely felt as the Bulls' struggles were more apparent. Meanwhile, Maxey's jump was instrumental in keeping his team in the Playoff race and propelling them to the seventh seed.
#2. Tyrese Maxey kept Sixers afloat through Joel Embiid's absence
Joel Embiid did not play from the start of February to the very end of March, marking a 29-game absence. During that time, Maxey shone as the Sixers' secondary star.
He kicked off Embiid's absence by dropping 51 points against the Utah Jazz on Feb. 1 and followed that up with one fantastic performance after another. Maxey also missed six games during that stretch, but despite that, he maintained his averages when any other player might have faltered under the pressure of being thrust into the spotlight as the number one option.
Had Maxey not stepped up, fans would probably be talking about how the Philadelphia 76ers went from playoff contenders with Embiid to not being a playoff team at all.
#3. Tyrese Maxey proved that he is a leader
Tyrese Maxey had James Harden and Joel Embiid before he won the NBA Most Improved Player Award. Before this season, it would have been fair to think that he was only performing well because defenses did not have to focus on him.
When Harden was traded, people thought that it would clear the way for Maxey to show what he was capable of and he lived up to those expectations. From day one of the season, he showed that he was capable of being the primary ball handler.
When Embiid went down, he proved that he could be the number one option. Yes, the team's record suffered when Embiid was out, but they did not entirely fall off. That is thanks in large part to the leadership and fortitude that Maxey showed when he was asked to lead the team in holding down the fort with Embiid out of commission.
Tyrese Maxey will get another chance to prove that he is ready to take the next step in his development post winning the NBA Most Improved Player Award as he and the Sixers try to come back from being 2-0 down against the New York Knicks in the first round of their playoff series.
