You don't need me to tell you that Tyrese Maxey is massively, monstrously, mammothly important to this Philadelphia 76ers team. Any stat you want points to Maxey currently being a top 5-ish player in the NBA. Scoring? He's No. 2 behind Luka Doncic. VORP? No. 3 behind Nikola Jokic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Actual EPM? No. 5 behind those guys, Giannis, and Steph Curry. Any way you slice it, Maxey is an All-NBA player right now.
Maxey's collection of crazy stats is seemingly endless; he also leads the league in minutes played and is top-20 in plus-minus per 100 possessions. In other words, Maxey is seldom on the bench; in the short time he is, the team completely falls apart. That's not rare for superstars, and it pretty clearly points to Maxey being one of those.
With him on the court, the Sixers are a playoff team, and with him on the bench, they're in tanking territory.
Tyrese Maxey is doing literally everything for the Sixers
Calling him the "engine" of this team doesn't even do it justice. Maxey is the engine, steering wheel, gas pedal, windows, tires, and catalytic converter. Other guys, like rookie VJ Edgecombe and free agent signee Trendon Watford, have overachieved in their respective roles. But Maxey makes everything go for this team, and every statistic, from counting stats to impact stats, backs that up.
He's the rare player who everyone can enjoy watching. Fans of "ethical basketball" will love that he takes over 13 two-pointers per game and doesn't often live at the free -throw line. Fans of "hoopers" will love his step-back 3-pointers, his willingness to take a defender one-on-one, and his attitude that he will score on anyone in front of him.
Is this sustainable? Maybe not, because Maxey would be in all-time territory with his scoring right now. But for the Sixers to stay competitive, Maxey will have to keep producing at an outrageously high level, and right now, he looks pretty comfortable doing that.