The NBA honors Tyrese Maxey for his sportsmanship with an assist from his parents
Denyse and Tyrone Maxey shared the news with their son before handing over the Joe Dumars Trophy. Maxey was also named an All-Star and Most Improved Player this season.
Tyrese Maxey is the winner of the NBA’s Sportsmanship Award, the league announced Thursday morning.
It is the latest in a growing list of honors this season for the 76ers guard, who was named a first-time All-Star and the winner of the NBA’s Most Improved Player award.
The Sportsmanship Award recognizes a player who “best represents the ideals of sportsmanship on the court,” according to the Sixers’ news release. And Maxey was ultimately chosen by his peers. After each team nominated one of its players for the honor, a panel of league executives then selected one finalist from each of the six divisions. Current players selected the winner.
Maxey learned about the award when his parents, Denyse and Tyrone, surprised him with the Joe Dumars Trophy. In a video shared by the NBA, Denyse congratulates their son and Tyrone hands over the hardware.
“Wow, son,” Denyse said. “Congratulations. Just wanted to give you a quick, quick update. The 2023-24 sportsmanship award is for those guys who work really, really hard on the court, but they also exemplify good sportsmanship, they’re great to their teammates, they respect the sport.
“And this year, guess who the 2023-24 sportsmanship award is going to? Tyrese Maxey.”
Tyrone then asked Maxey what the award means to him.
“It means a lot,” Maxey said as he looked at the trophy. “I wasn’t prepared to speak. Sportsmanship means a lot to me. I go out there and play extremely hard, but I still respect all my teammates and all my competitors. You’ve always got to show respect to them.”
Maxey added a little praise for his parents as well.
“Y’all taught me a lot, too,” Maxey said. “Taught me how to play the game I love with a lot of passion, but win, lose, or draw you always have to respect your competitors and the guys that you’re playing against.”
Maxey is the second Sixer to win the award, joining Eric Snow in 1999-2000. The trophy is named after Dumars, the Hall of Famer who won two titles with the Detroit Pistons and was the recipient of the league’s first sportsmanship award in 1995-96.
The 23-year-old Maxey put up career-best numbers in his fourth NBA season, averaging 25.9 points and 6.2 assists.