Tyrese Maxey takes hold of Sixers’ All-Star mantle, embodying ‘franchise’ nickname in Joel Embiid’s absence

INDIANAPOLIS — Tyrese Maxey was too sick to play in the 76ers’ Feb. 9 game against the Atlanta Hawks. But it was still important for the fourth-year point guard to drop by the Wells Fargo Center that afternoon.

He wanted to introduce himself to Buddy Hield and Cameron Payne, his two new teammates acquired at the trade deadline. He also wanted to talk to Paul Reed and Mo Bamba, the two centers filling in for injured reigning MVP Joel Embiid.

“I just wanted guys to go out there and seize the moment, seize the opportunity,” Maxey recently recalled. “Just told them, ‘Look, Joel’s gonna be out for however long Joel’s out for. This is time for y’all to go out here and not just showcase what y’all can do for this team and for yourselves, but really help this team win games.’”

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It was another leadership step for Maxey, who is living up to “The Franchise” nickname bestowed on him by Embiid. Maxey will showcase this gravitas while carrying the Sixers’ mantle at Sunday’s NBA All-Star game, while Embiid misses the festivities following knee surgery. Maxey’s first berth in the weekend’s main event illustrates what he has become as Embiid’s electrifying post-James Harden costar — along with the on- and off-court responsibility he now shoulders while Embiid is sidelined during the regular season’s stretch run.

“I’m going to do a lot of talking, a lot of experiencing, and then a lot of just soaking it all in, honestly,” Maxey said when asked about what he hopes to take from the weekend. “It’s my first one — hopefully the fist of many. But it means something, especially without Joel, being able to represent the Sixers in the All-Star game.”

It’s an honor that recently brought Maxey to tears during a phone conversation with his mother, Denyse, and elicited smiles during his final postgame lifting session with strength and conditioning coach Ben Kenyon before departing for Indianapolis. Maxey then was greeted by a billboard featuring him in New Balance gear near the Indiana Convention Center, a literal sign that he is not just a face of the Sixers but of the NBA.

Maxey and Embiid should have gotten to experience all of this together, as a poetic fulfillment of the big man’s preseason vow to “make sure [Maxey is] an All-Star.” But the Golden State Warriors’ Jonathan Kuminga fell on Embiid’s knee two nights before Maxey was named an Eastern Conference reserve, prompting a meniscus procedure that will be reevaluated in early March. Still, Embiid excitedly called Maxey to offer congratulations just before the guard dropped a career-high 51 points in a Feb. 1 win at the Utah Jazz, his second 50-point game in a season full of career highs.

Maxey is averaging 25.7 points, 6.4 assists, and 3.7 rebounds for the 32-22 Sixers. First-year coach Nick Nurse immediately empowered — no, demanded — Maxey to take 20 shots per game, blending his explosive speed to get all the way to the basket with his ability to drain long-range shots. Maxey has also created a lethal two-man game with Embiid, a partnership in which the guard can be the distributor or on the receiving end of Embiid’s career-best playmaking.

It has been the latest step of Maxey’s incredible rise.

He was drafted 21st overall in 2020, with some evaluators questioning his shooting after he connected on just 29.2% of his three-point attempts during his one season at Kentucky. He was thrust into a starting — and an offense-initiating — role his second NBA season, during Ben Simmons’ monthslong holdout following a trade demand. Maxey was then ready for increased playmaking responsibility when Harden asked for a trade last offseason, after Maxey recruited friends from back home to help him simulate “live” reads during summer workouts.

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Until Embiid’s injury, Maxey had helped the Sixers maintain their status in the Eastern Conference, sitting in third place in the standings for a significant stretch and appearing to have a legitimate shot to finally clear the second-round playoff hurdle.

Maxey initially believed becoming an All-Star was possible as a sixth-grader, when he played through a broken finger sustained in the first quarter of a middle-school championship game. Nurse can easily point to when Maxey dropped 38 points on the coach’s former team, the Toronto Raptors, in a 2022 first-round playoff series as when he realized “this guy is really good, really talented.” Even brand-new teammates have been instantly impressed with Maxey, with Payne saying last week, “I thought I was turbo. … he’s way faster than me.”

Yet Embiid perhaps has been the most staunch believer in Maxey since they first became teammates.

“He’s willing to learn. He listens. [He’s] extremely humble,” Embiid said in November, after Maxey scored a then-career-high 50 points against the Indiana Pacers. “I’ve always said [he is the] hardest-working person I’ve been around, and that’s saying something. He doesn’t take plays off. He always finds a way to get better.

“Obviously, he’s doing great, but I think he has an even brighter future. I think he can get to another level. Philadelphia’s got a good one. He is going to be here for a long time and, like I said, he’s The Franchise.”

Though Maxey has always regarded himself as a natural leader, he acknowledges he “didn’t know what to say” when he first joined the Sixers. Through the years, though, he felt himself earning his teammates’ respect through his relentless work ethic, high-octane production, and joyful personality. Ascending to the lead guard position this season further “pushed” Maxey to take on that role. And after Furkan Korkmaz was traded at the Feb. 8 deadline, Maxey recognized that Embiid and Tobias Harris were the only players with longer Sixers tenures than him (and fellow 2020 draftee Reed).

So Maxey became the first new teammate to text Payne, a gesture Payne called “big-time” while adding the 23-year-old “turned into a vet real quick.” An in-person arena visit, despite illness, before the Sixers’ first post-trade deadline game against Atlanta was a way for Maxey to help create a culture that is welcoming yet demands competitiveness on the court. Though the Sixers lost nine of their 12 games entering the All-Star break — which coincided with Embiid’s absence along with a barrage of other health issues — Maxey and the Sixers were encouraged by their final three games (wins at the Washington Wizards and Cleveland Cavaliers, and a five-point home loss to the Miami Heat).

“The fight is different,” Maxey said. “There’s no laying down. There’s no just giving up, [saying], ‘Oh, we don’t have Joel. We don’t have Melt [De’Anthony Melton]. We don’t have Tobias. There’s none of that.”

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Continued on-court development from Maxey also will be necessary for the Sixers to tread water until Embiid returns.

He is now at the very top of opponents’ scouting reports, causing him to face a variety of defensive schemes he has never experienced before. Nurse was recently critical of the way Maxey struggled to finish through contact. But in the Sixers’ marquee win at the red-hot Cleveland Cavaliers last Monday, the coach was pleased with how Maxey diversified his shot profile on some crucial possessions.

“He didn’t have to do one of his two main things,” Nurse said, “which is blow by you and go all the way, or step back and shoot the three. He found a spot on the court and went to it and vaulted up and knocked it down in tough circumstances.”

That’s why Maxey’s first All-Star game arrives at an appropriate time, given what he has already become and what the Sixers need him to be without Embiid. During a live recording of his Maxey on the Mic podcast with guest A’ja Wilson of the Las Vegas Aces, Maxey acknowledged the emotions surrounding the career benchmark.

Including that he is doing it alone.

“I’m taking it all in,” Maxey said. “And I’m extremely happy to … how do I explain this? [To] be able to be out here for the 76ers. Because they took a chance at me. They took a real, legit chance on me at [draft pick] 21.

“Joel normally gets to represent them. He’s not here this time. But for me to still be out here to represent that organization that took a chance on me, I’m very thankful for it and very appreciative.”