Philadelphia 76ers: Tyrese Maxey has become a wickedly efficient shooter

On Tuesday, Tyrese Maxey hit eight(!) 3 point shots in the Philadelphia 76ers‘ 131-122 win over the Indiana Pacers.

That’s a lot. By halftime, Maxey had already set a new career-high in 3 pointers made at seven, and his final tally marked the first time a Sixers player hit eight or more 3s in a game since Danny Green tied the franchise record for 3s made with nine in the team’s January 12th bout versus the Miami Heat back in 2021.

When you consider it took Green 50 minutes and 21 shots to accomplish that feat, Maxey’s performance against the other Tyrese, Tyrese Haliburton, and his Pacers looks all the more impressive.

Was this game a bit of an aberration? Maybe so; Tyrese Maxey has only put up double-digit 3s twice over his 145 games at the NBA level, but that has more to do with volume than efficiency. Since the start of the 2021-22 NBA season, “Tywese” has steadily improved his shot and has quietly become the Philadelphia 76ers’ most efficient shooter. With the playoffs a little more than a week away, that is incredibly valuable.

Tyrese Maxey’s shot is a massive asset to the Philadelphia 76ers.

If the 2021-22 season ended today, Tyrese Maxey would rank fourth in 3 point shooting percentage association-wide, trailing only Luke Kennard, Cameron Johnson, and Kyrie Irving. His shooting percentage, 42.9, is a full 2.6 percent higher than the Sixers’ next-most efficient shooter, Georges Niang, and is a full 6.5 percent higher than the team’s overall shooting percentage of 36.4, which ranks seventh association-wide.

And the best part? Maxey is doing so on 4.1 attempts per game, which, funny enough, is just .8 attempts fewer than Seth Curry averaged over the 2020-21 NBA season. Like Curry, Maxey is an effective scorer both on and off the ball, and, in a fun development that few folks saw coming, opposing teams have started to respect the second-year guard’s shot even when Joel Embiid or James Harden has the ball.

But wait, it doesn’t stop there. No, Maxey’s field goal percentage, 48.2, his effective shooting percentage, 54.8, and even his free throw shooting percentage, 86.2, are also very impressive viewed through the context of the entire association, as they rank 37th, 38th, and 24th respectively.

Not too shabby for a player some called a bad shooter coming out of college.

Now tasked with playing more of an off-ball role thanks to the addition of Harden, Maxey’s game has exploded in both efficiency and utility. In games paired up with Harden, Maxey has averaged 17.8 points, and 0.9 steals, while shooting 51.3 percent from the field and 49.5 percent from beyond the arc, all of which are better than his season averages. If Maxey can just keep that production up in the playoffs, where his minutes will likely balloon from 35.5 to something like 40-42, the Sixers might just have a third star who can take over games as a microwave scorer.

Could Tyrese Maxey ultimately fall out of the Top-5 in 3 point shooting percentage on the season? You bet, as fans have watched firsthand with Joel Embiid’s scoring, it just takes one or two statistically anomalous performances to move a season shooting percentages a few tenths of a percentage, but do you know what? I don’t think he particularly minds either way. No, after coming into the association tabbed a sixth man sparkplug, Maxey’s tireless work to become not only an undeniable starter but one of the better shooters basketball has to offer sort of speaks for itself, and for the shrewd drafting Daryl Morey pulled over back in 2020.