When Maxey turned to Joel Embiid in the middle of Wednesday’s 112-106 win over the Detroit Pistons, he already had his answer to the question that had chased the Philadelphia 76ers all off-season.
The ball was moving. The stars were feeding each other. And the loudest preseason worry about Philadelphia, that putting James next to Embiid, Maxey and newcomer Jaylen Brown would collapse into an ego-driven mess, was sounding less and less plausible.
“We was moving the ball. And I looked at Joel. I said all the ego stuff and the one ball stuff that we hear, it’s going to be okay,” Maxey told reporters after the game, in comments carried by HoopsHype.
Maxey’s explanation for the shift pointed to one teammate.
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“LeBron’s here and he has made everybody willing passers. When LeBron can be a willing passer, the rest of us can too.”
An 8-1 start under Nurse
Philadelphia now sits alone at the top of the Eastern Conference under head coach Nick Nurse, with eight wins in their first nine games. Maxey, who turned 26 on Wednesday, is averaging 29.1 points per game, third in the NBA, along with 5.3 assists and 4.1 rebounds.
James, who signed a two-year, $8 million contract in July to join Philadelphia for a record-extending 24th NBA season, is producing 16.2 points, 7.3 assists and 7.0 rebounds a night at age 41. The passing numbers are the headline: he had seven assists in the first half alone against the Chicago Bulls on 2 November, a game the Sixers won 126-107 to extend their winning streak.
The quiet pre-season deal
Before James signed, the pairing with Maxey was not a coincidence. The two had trained together during offseason workouts in Los Angeles long before he became a free agent, a relationship James has spoken about publicly in explaining his choice of Philadelphia.
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“Every morning, 5 a.m., we’re in the gym, 5:30, whatever, in the gym. And you just see his dedication,” James said of Maxey earlier in the summer. “I love the kid.”
That dynamic now runs through a starting five of James, Brown, Embiid, Maxey and second-year guard VJ Edgecombe, a group that only played together for the first time on 2 November after injury absences. Embiid scored 15 points and pulled down eight rebounds in that game despite entering it questionable with a foot issue.
Next up
The Sixers host the Boston Celtics, Brown’s former club, next in a stretch that includes two more conference games before the end of the week.
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