Sixers star Tyrese Maxey comments on James Harden situation

Philadelphia 76ers star Tyrese Maxey may be looking at a completely different role if James Harden keeps his promise and stays away from the team. The 6-foot-2 guard mainly played off the ball last season as Harden ran the point and orchestrated the offense. Without Harden, that job would go to Maxey who did it effectively when the Ben Simmons drama was going on.

Maxey, a first-round pick in 2020, has experience as a point guard dating back to his college days at Kentucky. His coaches — from John Calipari to Doc Rivers — have always valued his versatility. The 22-year-old is ready to switch things up if needed.

“It will change my role. I’ve been able to play on the ball, I’ve been able to play off the ball,” the talented guard said on the “Maxey on the Mic” podcast. “I’ve been adaptable no matter what situation I’ve been thrown into and it’s funny, every single year it’s been something new … I keep saying it — maybe I should stop saying it — but I keep saying it in interviews and podcasts and meetings and media, and it just keeps happening. But, I mean, if that’s the case then yeah, my role will be different. I’ll probably play a lot more on the ball, and a lot less off the ball. I’ll probably become the primary playmaker, primary ball-handler, but I think we can do it as a committee as well.”

When dissecting a potential committee, Maxey name-dropped Joel Embiid and Tobias Harris as options to handle the ball and run the offense. They have brought the ball up the court in certain sets. He also showered love on De’Anthony Melton and Jaden Springer as guys who are staring down the barrel of more meaningful minutes if Harden does indeed stay in exile.

“It’ll be even more difficult but everybody has to go out there and raise their game,” Maxey said. “And I say everybody … not just Joel. Not just me. Not just Tobias. But that’s everybody who is on the Sixers’ roster. That’s the nature of the business. There’s going to be an opportunity for a lot of guys.”

The Harden situation has cast a gloomy shadow on the Sixers’ offseason, one not likely to see its reflection in the window at the team’s practice facility in Camden once training camp opens in late September.

Harden wants out and refuses to go quietly.

His words and actions back that up. However, Maxey wasn’t ready to declare defeat on Harden’s predetermined departure. If the one-time MVP busted through the doors, everyone in the organization would embrace him.

“Honestly, I’m preparing to play with him or without him,” Maxey said. “That’s just the business side of it. And there’s no love lost I love James to death. If he decided he was going to come back and play with us, I think there’s nobody in this organization that would be upset about that but you just have to understand what he’s going through and pray for him as a brother.”

Tyrese Maxey could have run away from the whole James Harden conversation if he wanted to. He was talking on his podcast where he picks the topics and he calls the shots. It’s the definition of a safe haven. Still, the mature-beyond-his-years player felt the need to address everything that was going on. Maxey wasted no time, jumping right into the stickiest of sticky situations to start the show:

"“I guess we need to address the elephant in the room as people would say,” Maxey said. “My still current teammate and one of my good friends, a brother and my mentor, the James Harden situation … honestly, for myself personally, of course, I’m watching it because I’m not going to sit here and say I didn’t see any of it. I’m not going to sit here and say I don’t get on social media. “I’m not going to sit here and tell you that lie. I saw it and, you know, it’s interesting. I will say this about the situation, though. He’s a professional. He’s doing something for a reason and you just have to sit back and kind of understand what he’s doing as a friend but then as a teammate and as someone who is part of the organization that I’m with right now.”"

Maxey, with his mega-watt smile shining through the airwaves, hearkened back to the Ben Simmons fiasco from a few offseasons ago. The situations are eerily similar, although that one was much quieter due to Simmons’ strict code of silence. Everything that leaked out then came from secondary sources or through the grapevine.

Harden? No chance. He’s ready to verbally rumble.

“You have to prepare for whether James is going to be there or not going to be there. And that’s just the nature of it,” Maxey said. “That’s really just the nature of it. And it happens. It’s crazy to say this but it’s not our first rodeo, honestly. That’s funny to say but that’s life. And James is his individual and he’s able to do whatever he pleases.”

Take a good look at the words Maxey used to describe Harden: “good friend, a brother, and my mentor.” He wanted that on record for a reason. Hopefully, those nouns reach the Bearded One’s ears and he sees the error of his ways. If not, well, the Sixers are prepared for Plan B.

Don’t think for one minute the Sixers are seriously thinking about “re-processing” amid all the James Harden drama. The franchise went into the 2022-23 campaign with a stated goal of winning a championship and it intends to stick to that script — with or without Harden.

Tyrese Maxey made it very clear that there has been no chatter of tanking this season to get a better draft pick or underachieving by feeling sorry for themselves. Joel Embiid is coming back on a mission (look at his latest workout picture alongside Jayson Tatum) to pry the Larry O’Brien Trophy from Nikola Jokic’s cold, lifeless hands. Okay, that’s a bit harsh but you get the point.

“People ask me, like if James doesn’t come back do you see this season as a wash or … I don’t think in the position that the Sixers are in, we can’t never see the season as a wash,” Maxey said. “We have talent. We have the reigning MVP on our team. We have to go out there and expect to win and expect to still complete our goal. It will be even more difficult now that one of our best players, as of now, has decided he doesn’t want to come back and play and that’s how life goes.”

One other interesting tidbit from Maxey’s podcast came when he was elaborating on his deep-rooted relationship with Harden. Those two will forever have each other’s backs no matter what color uniform they are wearing.

Maxey said: “I know if he’s not playing he’s going to be rooting for me to be the best version of myself because that’s just the type of brother that he is. He’s a great person.”

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