Philadelphia 76ers: Tyrese Maxey has made himself (almost) untouchable

There’s a divergent timeline where Tyrese Maxey, Ben Simmons, Matisse Thybulle, and about a half dozen Philadelphia 76ers draft picks were traded to the Houston Rockets for James Harden.

The deal would have reunited Daryl Morey with the biggest success story of his front office career, given Joel Embiid the perfect pick-and-roll partner from which to build a championship contender around for years to come, and, most importantly of all, would have prevented the Brooklyn Nets from adding another former league MVP to their Big 3; even if said Big 3 has yet to see the court so far this season for obvious reasons.

Furthermore, such a deal would have also saved Philly fans – and NBA fans in general – literally months of BS news that ranges from maddening to downright head-scratching.

*sigh* can you even imagine such a world? What is it even like to follow a “normal” basketball team?

And yet, such a deal didn’t happen in this timeline and may not have even been on the table, depending on how much weight you put into reports of Rockets owner Tilman Fertitta’s unwillingness to deal his franchise player to his former GM who stepped away from the team months earlier to “spend time with his family.”

If that’s the case, the idea of Harden in a 76ers uniform may have always been a pipedream. If a team doesn’t want to trade a player, they won’t trade them point blank period, but if they are at least entertaining the possibility of making a move and one of the players they want isn’t on the table, it’s a lot harder to get a deal done, especially considering the built-in relationship issues between the two parties.

Last year, it was reported that Tyrese Maxey was made untouchable in trade talks surrounding James Harden, and now, one year later, the Philadelphia 76ers appear to feel the same way, albeit with a few exceptions.

The Philadelphia 76ers would reportedly only move Maxey for an All-NBA player.

Surely you’ve heard the rumor that the Philadelphia 76ers received a call about Ben Simmons’ availability from Brad Stevens and the Boston Celtics, right? And that for a deal to get done, Daryl Morey would like to bring back Jaylen Brown, the two-way wing who has drafted two spots after Simmons in 2016?

It’s a fun, only slightly contested story that would unquestionably make the Sixers a better team and make Simmons quite possibly the biggest villain in Philadelphia sports history, but hidden in an absolute mountain of reporting comes this fun little nugget of information from Jake Fischer, who passed along the team’s internal opinion on Tyrese Maxey.

"In those conversations with Houston, the Sixers were said to have discussed each of Tyrese Maxey and Matisse Thybulle in addition to Simmons and multiple future draft picks. Today, though, Sixers staffers have been encouraged by the early returns of Tyrese Maxey as a starting guard, and the 21-year-old would seem to be untouchable in any Simmons trade conversation that didn’t bring back an All-NBA guard such as Damian Lillard or Bradley Beal."

Very interesting. Very, very interesting.

Now the information in this story, which was written before Maxey dropped 31 on the Milwaukee Bucks on Tuesday night, isn’t too surprising from a value standpoint. Maxey has played incredibly well so far this season, has doubled his points, assists, rebounds, steals, and 3 point attempts per game in 20 extra minutes of action a night, and is doing so while only turning the ball over 1.5 times per game, which is tied for the 104th most per game of any player in the NBA.

All in all, it’s undeniable that Maxey has stepped his game up considerably from his rookie to sophomore season, but we never quite knew how the franchise viewed his role in their future moving forward. Did the team view Maxey as a change of pace combo guard who could energize an offense as a sixth man but would never become anything more, or were they starting to warm up to the idea of the 6-foot-2 guard out of Kentucky running the show moving forward as their long-term starting point guard? Would the Sixers be willing to flip Maxey in a move for a better-fitting player, say a pass-first point guard with a 40 percent 3 point shot, or would they instead keep him securely placed on the roster for the foreseeable future unless his inclusion in a deal could secure the team a legitimate All-NBA player in return?

If Fischer is correct, it appears to be the latter, and that, my friends, is the right call. As Philly learned first hand last season, when a truly transcendent NBA player becomes available, you have to go all-in on getting a deal done, even if it means saying goodbye to fan favorites. I mean, Joel Embiid once said it best, “If Golden State came and offered Steph and Klay for me, you think the Sixers would say ‘no’ to that?”

Is Tyrese Maxey the same level of NBA unicorn as Ben Simmons? No. Maxey is short, a poor percentage shooter, and a position-specific defender who lacks any elite trait other than his foot speed and infectious energy. But riddle me this; was Tony Parker an elite athlete? How about Kemba Walker? Or what about Lou Williams, the player Bleacher Report compared him to coming out of college? While Tyrese Maxey’s exact career arc may not match any of those players, he’s undoubtedly proven he belongs in the NBA and that his game can hold up to the riggers of a starter’s workload. Pair him up with a player like Jaylen Brown, and you know what? There might just be something special cooking up with the Philadelphia 76ers down in South Philly.