The Philadelphia 76ers’ 2024-25 season dented everyone’s spirits, but nobody took it harder than Tyrese Maxey. While Maxey posted a career-best 26.3 points per game last season, the losing slowly broke his bubbly spirit that Philadelphia has grown to adore. Maxey has spent the summer looking at himself in the mirror and has improved in multiple ways that could boost the 76ers’ championship hopes heading into the 2025-26 campaign.
Maxey has full embraced his role as a culture-setter
Amidst devastating injuries and frustrating losses from last year, 76ers fans grew frustrated with their team’s culture. Many people started to believe that Philadelphia lacked a winning attitude and couldn’t respond to adversity. Whether this is true is irrelevant, but Maxey has used the last few months to implement a hard-nosed standard that fans are already going nuts over.
Maxey spearheaded a workout at the 76ers’ practice facility in Camden, New Jersey that took place at 6 a.m. sometime this summer. Kyle Lowry, V.J. Edgecombe, and Trendon Watford were the players publicly revealed to have participated. Philadelphia has accumulated lots of young talent in the past few years with Edgecombe, Jared McCain, Justin Edwards, Adem Bona, and Johni Broome, all in need of guidance.
FELLOWSHIP! pic.twitter.com/cDkKcrxYJh
— Tyrese Maxey (@TyreseMaxey) August 18, 2025
Oftentimes in the NBA, we’ve learned that just because a young player has talent, it doesn’t always mean that they’ll tap into their full potential. Every rising star needs a veteran to push them to greatness. Maxey is fully embracing this role, and few better players in the league set a better example than him. His leadership could be pivotal to the progression of Philadelphia’s young core.
“All the videos I’ve seen, all the word I get out of Philly is that Tyrese Maxey, and McCain, and the younger guys like VJ Edgecombe – they’ve all been in the gym all summer long, " ESPN's Ramona Shelburne said on NBA Today recently. “And these guys, Embiid and Paul George, missed a lot of time last year—that young group, they may not wait, [the 76ers] may not be able to wait.”
Maxey allegedly grew
However, that’s not all Maxey has accomplished throughout the summer. Along with figuring out how to use a can-opener, he hinted at enduring a growth spurt. A video of Maxey’s workout with trainer Chris Johnson surfaced on X in late July and when a fan asked Maxey if he grew in response to the video, he replied “Glad you noticed.”
We’ll find out whether Maxey grew or not around media day or at the start of training camp in September. He’s officially listed as six-foot-two-inches and 200 pounds on the NBA’s database, which limited him defensively early in his career. However, he was able to take strides on that end of the floor last season, despite all of the chaos.
He notched a career-high 1.8 steals per game and looked more comfortable defending off the point-of-attack. So, if Maxey truly grew, it would only help him continue to grow as a perimeter defender, especially when defending bigger guards like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Cade Cunningham. Nick Nurse’s defensive philosophy is embedded with defensive playmaking, so Maxey evolving into a plus defender would be vital.