The Legend of the 76ers is Similar to Tyrese Maxey’s All-Star Season

It’s been quite the week for Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey. Although he missed a small stretch of games due to an ankle sprain, the young guard made his magazine cover debut for a popular hoops magazine publication and followed up his feature by landing the first All-Star nod of his young career. Then, Thursday’s game against the Utah Jazz was just the cherry on top for the young guard.

Back on November 12, Maxey had a career-high scoring game in an 11-point victory over the Indiana Pacers. By putting up 32 shots and hitting on his attempts at an efficient rate, Maxey collected 50 points in under 40 minutes of action.

Hitting the 50-point mark in a single game might happen more often in today’s NBA, but it’s still an incredibly rare accomplishment. On that mid-November night, Maxey became just one of eight players to notch a 50-point game this season. Would he be able to do it again? That question was answered on Thursday in Utah.

Coming off the announcement that Maxey was going to represent the 76ers in the All-Star game, the young guard proved the voters right on Thursday. With a 41-minute shift in his first game back after a three-game absence, Maxey knocked down 63 percent of his shots from the field to produce 51 points. Not only is he one of eight to score at least 50 points in a single game this year, but Maxey becomes one of four to do it multiple times.

It’s too early to put Maxey’s No. 0 in the rafters of the Wells Fargo Center, but it has to be pointed out that the 23-year-old guard is having a similar season at this age as a 76ers legend. Allen Iverson, the former No. 1 overall pick out of Georgetown, averaged 26.8 points and 4.6 assists with the Sixers at age 23. He accomplished those numbers while hitting on 41 percent of his field goals, 29 percent of his threes, and 75 percent of his free throws.

As for Maxey, he’s averaging 26.2 points per game, along with 6.5 assists per game. He’s shooting at a more efficient rate, hitting 45 percent of his field goals, 37 percent of his threes, and 86 percent of his free throws. Maxey has a long way to go to reach a status similar to what Iverson once had with the Sixers’ franchise years ago, but it’s necessary to show that the former University of Kentucky star is on the right path to stardom in the league.

His next step is to show that he can uplift the Sixers as the focal point of the team’s offense, and he’ll get an opportunity to do so for the time being as Philly’s MVP big man Joel Embiid is currently nursing a knee injury.