The situation at the 76ers is becoming increasingly dire, but the player that’s holding everything together is 24-year-old Tyrese Maxey.
Recently, Shams Charania reported that amid the team’s collapse, they held a players and coaches meeting where Maxey challenged Joel Embiid to be on time and called him out in front of everyone.
“I feel like the reason why when I say things, it kinda travels only because I work extremely hard,” Maxey told Yahoo Sports. “I work extremely hard, man. Everything I say comes from a good place. All I want to do is win. I don’t care about anything else, honestly. All the individual accolades, all the other stuff, that don’t mean anything to me if we’re not winning.”
Even though Embiid was drafted by Philly and has spent his whole career there, 76ers center Andre Drummond says that it’s Maxey’s team.
“It’s his team,” 76ers center Andre Drummond told Yahoo Sports before amending his statement. “His and Joel’s team. They’ve been here the longest, lifted this team up in the years they’ve been here. It’s good to see our point guard be vocal. Tyrese isn’t one to say much, he does it in his play. So it’s cool to hear him say certain things to certain guys and make demands. He makes demands of me too. He wants to see the next guy be great.”
Drummond went on to explain that Maxey doesn’t just call out Embiid out, he’ll stop practice and correct other teammates if something is done wrong.
“The maturity has been huge. He’s a lot more vocal. He speaks his mind,” Drummond said. “Just watching his growth as a leader has been amazing.”
Some NBA fans are calling for the front office to blow up the team and build around Maxey, but it’s hard to know whether management are thinking the same thing.
READ MORE: Warriors’ Depth Doesn’t Hold Up Without Steph Curry