Philadelphia 76ers: Not trading for Kyle Lowry was an all time non-move

Tyrese Maxey is a member of the Philadelphia 76ers, and needless to say, the team is darn happy to have him.

In 38 minutes of action, the second year guard out of Kentucky scored 38 points in the Sixers’ 131-111 win over the Toronto Raptors and was the galvanizing force that left little room for Nick Nurse’s squad to steal away momentum in a white-hot Wells Fargo Center. Maxey went 14-21 from the field, 5-7 from beyond the arc, hit all five of his shots from the free throw line, and rounded out his stat line with four boards, two assists, and zero turnovers.

Sidebar: Did you know the Sixers tied a record for the fewest turnovers in a playoff game after three? Wow.

Will the Toronto Raptors pick their wounds, scour the tape, and make this a series moving forward? You bet; Nick Nurse is a good coach, Masai Ujiri has built a very intriguing roster, and if Scottie Barnes can go, then so can the Raptors, but it’s safe to say the Philadelphia 76ers will have a puncher’s chance to return to the second round for the fourth time in five years thanks to having on Tyrese Maxey in red, white and blue instead of red, purple, and black, which almost wasn’t the case.

Making Tyrese Maxey untouchable was the right decision by the Philadelphia 76ers.

For the longest time, it looked like Kyle Lowry was coming home.

The stars were aligning perfectly; the Toronto Raptors were preparing for a soft reboot coming off of their Kawhi Leonard-led championship run, Lowry’s contract was coming up, and Masai Ujiri was reportedly willing to relocate one of his franchise’s all-time best players to a new home depending on where he’d like to play out the final chapter of his career.

Twice Lowry almost made his way back to Philadelphia, first at the 2021 NBA trade deadline and again a few months later in the offseason, and both times, for one reason or another, the Sixers came up short.

First, despite okaying a trade back home to Philadelphia, the Raptors were unable to reach an acceptable trade package heading into the deadline, reportedly because Daryl Morey wasn’t willing to include Matisse Thybulle alongside Tyrese Maxey and picks in a deal for Lowry.

Some, like The Ringers’ Wosny Lambre, called that a massive mistake for the Sixers, but in hindsight, the mistake was North of the border, especially when you consider the package Ujiri would eventually accept a few months later.

Then, when the playoffs were over and the offseason snapped into focus, the Sixers again were players for Lowry alongside the Los Angeles Lakers and the Miami Heat, but again the Raptors went in a different direction, shipping the North Philly native down to South Beach for a sign-and-trade package of Goran Dragić, Precious Achiuwa, and a single second-round pick.

Again the Sixers were players for Lowry’s services, and again it didn’t work out, largely because of the pending Ben Simmons move and a lack of requisite contracts needed to get a deal done. Jimmy Butler, not Joel Embiid, would be the beneficiary of the Villanova legend’s passes, and all the Sixers were left with was a second-year guard without a clear NBA position and a 6-foot-10 point guard who refused to play.

Aka, the best decision the Sixers could have ever made.

Over the course of the 2021-22 regular season, Maxey moved on and then off the ball, elevated his 3 point shooting percentage to one of the best marks in the NBA, and developed into the second-best scorer and third-best overall player on a Sixers squad surging at the best possible time. His confidence had been unflappable, his game had been ever-evolving, and his ceiling remains limitless until otherwise defined.

And to think, it all could have come as a member of the Raptors. Crazy.

Will the day come when Tyrese Maxey overtakes James Harden and *gasp* maybe even Joel Embiid as the Philadelphia 76ers’ premier scorer? Will Harden one day shift to more of a facilitator role, and the offense will alternate between being run through Maxey and Embiid depending on the play design and situation? Could we one day look at Maxey like the only other player to score 21 or more points in a playoff quarter, Allen Iverson? Only time will tell, but none of it would have happened if he was traded to the Toronto Raptors, which almost happened a little over a year ago.