Tyrese Maxey once studied Shake Milton’s game. Now the longtime friends are powering the Sixers’ second unit.
Maxey and Milton first met in 2017, while Maxey was a high schooler in the Dallas suburbs and Milton was starring at SMI. Maxey's father, Tyrone, was on SMU's staff.
PORTLAND, Ore. — When Tyrese Maxey was an eager-yet-talented high school basketball player in Garland, Texas, he regularly visited practices and games at nearby Southern Methodist University.
His father, Tyrone, had been hired as the program’s director of player development in 2017. And Tyrese naturally gravitated toward studying the attacking point guard with an NBA future: Shake Milton.
By the twist of basketball fate, Maxey and Milton are now in their third season as Sixers teammates. And with Maxey’s at-least-temporary move to a bench role, both guards are now tasked with spearheading their team’s second unit.
Coach Doc Rivers calls them “completely different human beings,” personality-wise, as Milton is incredibly subdued while Maxey instantly delights any room. Yet their bucket-getting mentalities are aligned, allowing them to excel at playing off each other. The most recent example: They accounted for 25 of the Sixers’ 41 bench points on 11-of-19 shooting during Thursday’s victory over the Portland Trail Blazers.
“We always push each other, too,” Milton said following that game. “That’s one of the things I appreciate most about him — seeing what he does and him making me want to work harder, and I’m sure it’s the other way around [for Maxey].
“Just seeing somebody great at basketball, doing their thing, it inspires you to get with your team, work harder, and be great yourself.”
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Why are Maxey and Milton so complementary? They are both capable of playing on and off the ball, meaning either can initiate the offense if the other is being pressured by the opponent. They can both push the pace and create for themselves or others off the dribble, Maxey primarily with his explosive speed and Milton with more methodical dribble moves. They also can both be on the facilitating or receiving end of catch-and shoot opportunities from outside the arc.
“We know all the same spots, and we know all the spots that we need,” Maxey said.
Their chemistry began as a friendly rapport. Maxey recalls first having a conversation with Milton at a team dinner at then-SMU coach Tim Jankovich’s home. Though they never worked out together or played one-on-one that season, Maxey admired Milton like a big brother while observing his diligent work ethic that Maxey “kind of related to myself” and absorbing Milton’s periodic tips about how he played in the pick and roll. Unsurprisingly, Milton described a teenage Maxey as “smiling all the time” and having “hella energy,” his affable presence already intact.
When the Sixers selected Maxey in the first round of the 2020 NBA draft, that Milton was already on the roster was “literally the first thing I thought of,” Maxey said. By then, Milton had developed himself from a second-round pick on a two-way contract into a rotation player and part-time starter with “microwave” potential to score in bunches. Milton preached a stay-ready mindset to a rookie Maxey, whose playing time had become spotty for the first time in his basketball life.
“He’s like, ‘You just never know. Guys get hurt sometimes … and you have to step right in and step up,’” Maxey said. “It was like, ‘All right, look, it’s one of them games. Let’s go.’ I would go right in and be myself, and when you have somebody like that who’s in the rotation, who’s playing every night … who’s older and they have the confidence in you, it builds confidence in yourself.”
That belief was evident last season, when Maxey used his blend of relentless drives and lethal three-point shooting to catapult himself into acclaim as one of the NBA’s breakout stars. Milton, meanwhile, went through a challenging season marred by ankle and back injuries, which prevented him from gaining traction in the rotation.
Milton’s role on the 2022-23 Sixers also was uncertain — until Maxey fractured his foot in mid-November. That thrust Milton into the starting lineup, where he averaged 20.6 points on 54.3% shooting, six assists, and five rebounds over nine games as Maxey watched his friend’s confidence quietly brew.
“I’m extremely happy for him,” Maxey said of Milton, “because that’s mental toughness.”
When Maxey returned in late December, the Sixers’ substitution pattern — which took Maxey out about midway through the first and third quarters and reinserted him late in those periods — allowed for him and Milton to play together for a stretch in both halves. Yet the pairing has really taken off since Rivers opted to turn Maxey into the team’s sixth man.
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During Tuesday’s win at the Los Angeles Clippers, Maxey exploded for 11 consecutive points to start the fourth quarter (while sharing the floor with Milton) to create the Sixers’ decisive advantage. Two days later, Maxey’s and Milton’s impact in Portland helped lift the Sixers to their fourth consecutive victory.
Maxey totaled 13 first-half points, including two pull-up jumpers, a floater, and two driving finishes. Milton was then critical to the Sixers curtailing the Trail Blazers’ late rally. After Portland cut what had been a 26-point Sixers lead to 75-63 late in the third quarter, Milton calmly sank a step-back jumper and then a layup right before the buzzer. Early in the fourth, Milton twice dished to Georges Niang for three-pointers. One possession later, Maxey found Milton for a crafty finish in traffic.
“When you come off the bench,” Milton said, “you kind of have to create that [rhythm] yourself. So it’s something we definitely talk about. It’s not the easiest thing to do, but when you come in the game, the most important thing is to not wait.”
Then the personal dynamic between Maxey and Milton flashed inside a mostly empty visitors’ locker room. While Milton spoke to a small group of reporters at his locker, Maxey walked in and playfully began to answer for his teammate.
“Yeah, I get buckets,” Maxey said of Milton. “Yeah, I go left. Step-back. Yeah, we know.”
Just like when Maxey was a teenager, watching Milton play for SMU.