How Tyrese Maxey helped bring LeBron James to Philadelphia 76ers
· Yahoo Sports
CAMDEN, N.J. – Tyrese Maxey said it was weird to see LeBron James walking around the Philadelphia 76ers' practice facility Sept. 28 in a James No. 23 Sixers jersey.
Maxey and James have spent time together training every summer since Maxey started preparing for the NBA Draft in 2020.
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Maxey would text James each summer to set a time to meet. They would work on their individual skills and then go their separate ways.
This summer, they practiced two-man actions – pick and rolls and dribble handoffs – and James followed Maxey back to Camden. Training camp begins Sept. 29 and hope, for the first time in a while, surrounds the Sixers.
"I believe in the work," Maxey said. "He believes in the work. For this team, like he said and like I've been saying for years, we got to get 1% better. Not just on the court, but as a group, with the camaraderie. It's going to be new. It's going to be different."
Without his relationship to Maxey, James likely would not have signed with the Sixers. Speaking to reporters for the first time since his signing at Sixers Media Day Sept. 28, James described Maxey as "one of the main deciding factors" in his decision.
He said they spoke multiple times as James debated between about five possible destinations, among them returns to Cleveland or Miami and a team-up with Stephen Curry with the Golden State Warriors.
"I picked his brain a lot on not only where he sees his career going, how he sees the franchise here, how much he believes in the franchise, and, if I was to come here, how does he see me fitting in?" James said.
"I understand my personality and what comes with me, sometimes it can be a negative," he said. "You know, I understand some people can't handle what I may bring to the table. And I was just asking him all the questions that I could ask him. When I broke a lot of the teams down and I broke a lot of the franchises out that I could possibly play for, he was one of the main deciding factors."
When James was a free agent in 2024, Maxey sent him a text.
"I was like, 'Hey, you know we here if you want to pull up, if you want to come home back to the Northeast," Maxey recalled.
But at the time, a return to the Lakers felt preordained and, eventually, James resigned with Los Angeles on a two-year, $101.35 million deal.
This go around, as James at age 41 enters his 24th NBA season, it became obvious early in his free agency that a reunion with the Lakers was not going to happen. Maxey sensed an opportunity to reach out again after the Sixers acquired Jaylen Brown from the Boston Celtics on July 1.
"Once we got Jaylen, I was like, 'Ok. It's interesting,'" Maxey said. "Because then I heard he didn't want to go back to LA. I was like, 'Man, I'm here so I might as well ask him, hit him up. And then he called me one day, we chopped it up and I was like, 'Ok, I think he may be coming.' And I just left it at that."
That James was willing to sign a minimum contract to pursue a championship with the best possible roster, kept the Sixers in contention to sign him. With three max contract players in Brown, Maxey and Joel Embiid, the Sixers lacked financial flexibility late in the offseason. News of James' agreement with the Sixers – he signed a two-year, $7.95 million deal – broke July 24.
Maxey was doing 6 a.m. workouts with Rajon Rondo, James' point guard on the Lakers during their 2020 NBA Finals run, during a dead period in 2020 before the NBA entered its COVID-19 Disney World bubble to complete the regular season and playoffs. Maxey was months away from being the 21st overall pick out of Kentucky in the 2020 draft.
"I think Rondo was probably like, 'Look, I think you'll benefit from working out with this kid. I know he's young, he's 19 years old, but he works out hard," Maxey said.
Maxey then worked out with Rondo and James multiple times before they went to the bubble and won the championship. The 6 a.m. workouts picked up the following summer and became a routine occurrence.
"Every single summer we get back in the lab," Maxey said.
This summer, Maxey also worked out with Brown and VJ Edgecombe. Edgecombe started a group chat with Brown, Embiid and Maxey. When James signed, he urged Maxey to add him.
"Obviously, I don't got LeBron James' number," Edgecombe said. "So, I can't say go add LeBron to a group chat. Plus, if I had his number why would I randomly add LeBron to a group chat. So, I told Tyrese to do it."
Maxey, last year in his age 25 season, averaged 28.3 points and 6.6 assists per game and earned third team All-NBA honors for the first time in his career. With injuries limiting Embiid to 38 games, Maxey was the team's unquestioned leader.
Now, it adds the 2024 Finals MVP and a 21-time All-NBA honoree who averaged 20.9 points, 7.2 assists and 6.1 rebounds in his age 41 season.
"I've seen everything that this league has to offer on the floor and off the floor," James said. "So, I hope that every single day with my approach to the game, approach to the work, that it can translate to every single guy and even guys that's been able to win at the highest level."
That championship pedigree resides in Philadelphia, in part, because of Maxey.
Brandon Holveck reports on high school sports for The News Journal. Contact him at [email protected].
This article originally appeared on Delaware News Journal: How Tyrese Maxey helped bring LeBron James to Philadelphia 76ers