Tyrese Maxey's scorching start to the NBA season earned him MVP cheers from the crowd in Philadelphia.
While his standout season didn't guarantee him MVP honors, it did earn him some hardware. The NBA announced Tuesday that Maxey won the league's Most Improved Player award.
The Philadelphia 76ers guard won the honor, beating out Houston Rockets center Alperen Sengun and Chicago Bulls guard Coby White, who were both finalists after successful seasons.
Voting breakdown
Maxey received 51 out of 100 first place votes and led the voting with 319 points. White was second with 32 first place votes and 305 points. Sengun received 6 first place votes and 92 points. "For someone like me, who prides myself on doing so much work and leaving people behind, who finds a way to get 1% better every time I step into the gym, it feels good to have this come to light," Maxey said. TNT after winning the award.
Maxey also addressed Tuesday's playoff loss to the New York Knicks, a game that saw the 76ers take a five-point lead in the final 40 seconds amid several controversial calls that the NBA deemed wrong on Tuesday. That defeat put the Sixers in a 0-2 playoff hole with the series going to Philadelphia.
Maxey's rise to All-Star
Maxey, 23, set the tone in the opening games of the season, filling the void left by James Harden. In the first three games, Maxey averaged 30.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 6.3 assists while shooting 56% from three-point range. The 76ers then traded Harden to the Los Angeles Clippers, leaving the Philadelphia backcourt in Maxey's hands.
He responded by posting the first 50-point game of his career, limiting the 76ers to an 8-1 win. In February, he earned the first All-Star bid of his four-season NBA career. He finished the season averaging 25.9 points, 6.2 assists and 3.7 rebounds per game while shooting 45% from the field and 37.3% from three-point range.
Maxey didn't come out of nowhere. Last season he averaged 20.3 points, 3.5 assists and 2.9 rebounds per game. The previous season, he won Most Improved Player votes after more than doubling his rookie scoring average (8 points per game) with 17.5 points per game. But in the 2023-24 season, Maxey soared into a new stratosphere, ranking in the top 20 in the league in both points and assists per game.
He did so as Philadelphia's No. 2 scoring option behind reigning MVP Joel Embiid, but with Embiid sidelined by injury, he often found himself as the go-to scorer. The 76ers finished 7th in the playoffs thanks to Maxey keeping the team competitive and Embiid missing 43 of Philadelphia's 82 regular season games.
