Philadelphia 76ers Media Day | Tyrese Maxey | 09.26.25

Philadelphia 76ers Media Day | Tyrese Maxey | 09.26.25

Okay. Okay. No, I’m just playing. Come on. What’s up? Y’all good? You have a good summer? Everybody y’all smiling? Y’all got good All right, cool. It’s pretty good, actually. Did some traveling. Uh, did a lot, man. Got a couple new dogs. I got an arm sleeve on. What do you guys think about this? Jay or Nay? Yeah. Cool. Yeah. I had a we, you know, black had the head. All right. I’m ready though. Tyrese, on on this day right here, uh, we normally talk to you about, you know, what did you work on in the summer and, you know, kind of what was your focus going in? How much more difficult was that for you to figure out where to start when last year you guys never really got your feet under you? So anything you’re facing is probably like I don’t even know how that applies moving forward. How difficult was it to figure that out like what you were focused on this summer? I mean I ain’t going to say it was too difficult. I played a good amount of games to where I can kind of get like a baseline of what I wanted to get better at. And then I also watched a lot of games uh to kind of know, okay, I need to add that, I need to add that, I need to add that. So it was pretty easy. Um I think the biggest thing for me was I just got a lot of work in honestly just because of the you know the long summer but it was really great man. Um last summer, not this summer, but last summer I didn’t get to start working out like after contract. So it was a little weird. That’s my first time kind of really doing that. But uh I feel really good honestly man. This summer I got to hit the ground early. headed like May and uh just ready to start. And we heard from Paul that basically the whole team has been here the last couple weeks, two, three weeks in the gym working together. Um how much time have you gotten to spend with VJ on the floor specifically and I guess we’ve talked to you a little bit about how that might work, you two playing together, but what are your first impressions playing with him? Yeah, VJ is a special talent. Uh, I think one of his talents that a lot of players don’t really use is like how hard he plays on both ends of the floor, whether that’s offensive rebounding, defensive rebounding, guarding the ball, uh, playing in transition. Those things are like things that like little things that a lot of people don’t do. So, uh, I think he’s going to be really good at that. He likes to learn. He wants to get better. Uh, the sky’s is the limit for him. I actually spent a lot of time with him now that I’m thinking about it. Um, had a couple What’s up, man? How you doing, Drum? um did a couple workouts here probably in I think August, took them to like Disney, Disneyland in LA. That was fun. Uh then I came back here. He’s the type of guy that like he likes to work out, you know, he likes to actually get in the gym and work. He’s kind of like Jared. So, um I think the the those two are are a good start to the culture that we’re trying to build. Tyrese, we know Joe is Joe and Paul is Paul, but you’re also obviously a team leader here and you’re continuing to grow in that role, especially vocally, and you just talked about uh all the different excursions that you did, you know, in the gym, out the gym with some of the younger guys this year. What are you really trying to accomplish in terms of growth as a leader this year for the Sixers? I think the biggest thing that I’m trying to accomplish is like we need a standard. Like, this is who we are every single day, no matter who plays, no matter who doesn’t play. Um, when you see Philadelphia 76ers, this is what you see. You’re going to see that team every single night. Um, every single time you turn your TV on, every single time you step foot in um, whatever arena that we’re playing in, this is the team that you’re going to get and this is the type of culture you’re going to get. They’re going to do this thing. They’re going to do a certain thing a certain way every single night. I think that’s the biggest thing. And then just like building a camaraderie and a brotherhood off the court. I think that’s one of the biggest things that we’ve I’ve tried to do this summer. Uh Justin was in um Dallas a little bit, came to my house, you know what I’m saying? VJ, a couple guys are going to come to my house soon. You know what I’m saying? A couple out here. So, it’s just like that’s the kind of thing that I’m trying to build. If you you have that friendship and that relationship off the court, I think when you get on the court, I’ve even started playing video games with the VJs, the Justin, and you know what I’m saying? So, it’s like I think that’s going to help us a lot. Tyrese, you mentioned Jared just now. First of all, uh the news about his thumb yesterday. I’m just curious what your reaction was to that and whether or not you’ve talked with him and and generally your memory of playing with him last year. I know it was brief because you were both dealing with injuries, but what stood out to you about the time you shared with Jared in the back court, right? Yeah, I definitely talked to him. Uh I feel for him, man. He’s coming back from I think his knee miniscus in injury and uh he’s worked his tail off to get where he is today. But thing about Jared is he’s a positive uh person. He works extremely hard. So, he’ll be back extremely soon and I know he’ll get 100% healthy. And like you said, the time that I played with him in the back court is great. I mean, Jared does a lot of things that a lot of teams really would like. You know what I’m saying? Like, he shoots the ball well. He passed the ball pretty well. He competes on defense. He’s going to do all those different things. And he’s a great teammate. So, we just need him. We want him to get back healthy and can’t wait to have him back out there. Hey, what’s going on, Reese? How are you? Um, obviously you known Joe more than more than better than anybody really like on this roster. I obviously we’ve seen videos and photos of him working out with you guys, things like that. What have you kind of seen from Joe and his just being able to work out with him a little bit recently? Like you said, I Joe is Joe. I know Joe and um it’s just good to see him able to move around and play basketball because at the end of the day, he loves doing it. He’s extremely competitive. So, I’m just happy for him. Yeah. barely your mic don’t work. You got to get up and yell. Oh yeah. Um so correct me if I’m wrong on this, but I think like last year it seemed like not knowing if Joel was in the lineup seemed to drain the guys wearing you guys a little bit. Joel saying that um he’s doing better this year, but he also I think use the word unpredictable. I guess my question is what did you learn from last year? Can you guys succeed if there’s some unpredictability with him whether he’s in the lineup or not? Or what did you learn from last year in terms of how to deal with that? That kind of goes back to what I said at the beginning. Like we’re trying to create an identity to where no matter who plays, I’m not playing, Joe’s not playing, Jared’s not playing, Paul’s not playing, whoever, it doesn’t matter. DJ, I don’t I can go down I can go down the whole list. The 76 are going to play this way every single night. No matter who’s out there, we’re going to compete. We’re going to play hard. We’re going to play like that’s what we’re going to do. And um that’s what it has to come down to. So now it’s not a uh oh, we got to rely on one thing and okay, you’re not playing. we got to do change our whole thing now. We’re going to play the same way every single night. Um, of course, you know, it’s little stipulations. So, when Jojo well plays, then of course they’re going to double, they’re going to do those different things, but like base, our base needs to be the same every single night. I think that’s the biggest thing that we’ve been working on. Tyrese over here. Um, you were pretty candid last year about how the season sort of wore on you mentally at at certain points. Um, I guess maybe looking back on that experience now, like what did you learn from that to then make sure that that doesn’t happen again just when the es and flows of the season kind of arrive? I learned a lot. I learned a lot. I um changed a lot. I feel like the biggest thing that I’ve done just personally for myself is like I’ve started like really focusing in on like mental health of my for myself just is like I said, I’ve never lost in my career. So, it was good for me to go through that and like also become like a better leader in that and like leading the young guys and leading the team and just kind of keeping everybody positive. Um, you know, this year we definitely plan on, you know, being better and we’ve been working ourselves off to be better. I think for me, like I said, like it’s gotten me into a point to where like I journal a little bit more. I read a little bit more. I’ve done like some different things this summer to like keep my mental health and keep my my spirits in in in the correct place. So, cuz I my spirits have to be high for this team and for this organization and um for my game as well. So, I think that’s what I’ll do. Make sure I do this year and uh we’ll be better. Are you the one preaching that message about about standard culture? Um I mean, you’re kind of the veteran of that the young group of guys, I guess you could say. Um I mean, is that coming from you? I think it’s going to come from all of us, honestly. I mean, definitely I’ll be one that’s speaking up a lot more. Um, I have just been a lot more vocal on things that I see and things that I want to try to help fix. And that’s just not because, um, I’m older. I think it’s more because like I want to win. I think everybody here else wants to win. And I also want to be like I want to do things the right way. You know what I mean? And when you do I think when you do things the right way, you get rewarded. So that’s what we’re trying to implement and that’s what we’ve been trying to do and I think that it it’ll help us in the long run. Speaking of speaking of winning, you you guys I mean this time last year, we’re we’re asking you guys about contending for a title and and I don’t think that’s come up once yet. Um you know, the East is wide open, but people are kind of looking at you guys as as almost rebuilding. Um do you think this team uh can win with or without Joel and Paul? And I think the biggest team biggest thing that this team and this organization to work on is is ourselves. You know what I’m saying? We got to focus on ourselves and focus on getting better every single day. I know I said this so many times since I’ve been here. Y’all probably tired of me saying it, but it’s it’s a real thing, especially with the younger guys that we have, you know, the Justin, Deonas, the VJs, the Jared. Um those guys have never played playoff basketball. So, right now, we’re just trying to find ways to get better and better and better every single day. Make sure the culture is right, make sure everything that we do is right, and make sure that we’re all stepping in the right direction. If we’re all stepping in the right direction, who knows what’s possible. You know what I’m saying? So, that’s the biggest thing that we’re trying to do. We’ve been working our tails off all summer. Guys been in the gym, guys been in the lab, and then even this fall, I think guys been working really hard. So, hey, we got to go out there and play now. Tyrese, I know it’s not going to be this way because, you know, Quinton’s not here, Jared’s down, but you know, with the talent you guys have at guard, it seems like three guard line might be a thing that kind of happens more. I I guess for you, how do you see that kind of playing out and how do you personally try to kind of make sure it works with all, you know, three guards being on the floor at times? I think the biggest thing is you got to be unselfish. You have to have an open mind. Uh I’m gonna give a shout out to coach Caliperry just because I played in a lot of three guard lineups in college. So coming from high school, I played on the ball, on the ball, on the ball. Then you get to college and like it’s three guys that can have the ball who can push at all times. That just really helps. Especially when you have dynamic shooting, dynamic playm um guys who can play off the catch, play off close outs, and guys who can attack the paint. when you can attack the paint and kick out to some of your teammates who can also attack the paint and kick out and make plays, it makes you more dangerous. Tyrese, um, is there a is there a specific area of growth that that you that you can uh that you can have in your individual game uh this year? I mean, I I know one of the goals of a player is to try to come back with something new uh every year. or is there something that you’ve identified or is it just kind of um you know all-encompassing for you? Yeah, it’s definitely a few things that I I want to come back and be better at, but I just want to be better overall. You know what I’m saying? From the get-go, from the jump. I think towards uh you know, beginning of the season, I feel like I started slow last year. Like I said, I got a slow start to my summer working out. It’s my first time really kind of going through that. Uh this summer, I started, you know, hit the ground running like I normally do. I feel way better. Body feels better. Mind feels better. um just want to hit the ground running for my teammates and try to help them like kind of lead them along and I and not just lead by my voice but lead by my example on the court. That’s the biggest thing that I want to like try to get a fast start at. And uh yeah, I have some things in mind. I had some things in mind over the summer that I really worked on and uh you know, we’ll see if they come to light. Tyrese. Uh VJ is someone who’s for a lot of his basketball life had the ball a lot and now he’s joining a roster with a lot of guys that are ahead of him in that pecking order and it’s sort of similar to the situation you entered into six years ago now. Um what advice would you I know why did you have to do that? What what advice would you have for VJ in terms of how he can, you know, impact winning even if he doesn’t have the ball as much and and how to assert himself uh, you know, within the construct of of an NBA team? Well, honestly, like it’s a different circumstance if I’m being honest. Uh, I think when I got to the league and I kind of, yes, I was used to having the ball in my hands, but I also knew like I was going to have to play a certain role on the team. I think for him, you know, one being drafted high like that, like we’re going to ask him probably to play on the ball or something, too. You know what I mean? I I like exclusively my rookie year, I barely barely played on the ball. You know what I’m saying? I played with Ben, played with Joe, played with Shake, um, played with a lot of different guys, you know what I’m saying? George Hill was in there with me a lot. Um, but we’re going to ask him. There’s going to be times where like I’m in the game with VJ and he’s going to be bringing the ball up. You know, he’s in the game with Jared. We all got to share the wealth, I feel like. And I think that makes us more dangerous. I think that would make us better honestly because it changes dynamics. Like you can attack from different angles. Now you got guys off the ball. You got me, Jared, him playing off closed outs. Um, I think it’ll be better for us. Tyrese. Hey Tyrese, the there’s a difference between, you know, kind of being a primary scoring option and a secondary scoring option and the attention that you get from defenses and and um stuff like that. Was there anything you learned last year um kind of being in that position as much as you were? And is there anything you could do this offseason to kind of work on, you know, playing in that role? Definitely. Definitely. I think my big So, look, I’m going explain to you just like this. When I got to like late December, January, I feel like I kind of fig start really figuring out how to manipulate the game, manipulate defense. I think y’all could see that in like in my production. Now, I’m going to tell the jokes. Don’t nobody laugh. My rookie year through my third year, I used to get so angry at Joel sometimes when he’ be getting double teamed and I’m like, “Bro, I’m wide open.” And he’s like, “Bro, I can’t see you.” Then people start double teaming me and I say people like, “Bro, I’m open.” I said, “I trust me, I really can’t see you.” So like but no like it’s it’s definitely um I got a lot of film on it so I got a lot of time to work on it and um I do feel a lot more confident in it and I think it’ll work out well for us. How do you work on that in like a workout situation like I have a lot of friends a lot of friends a lot of a lot of good friends that I’ve been friends with in high school and u you know anytime I go to Dallas when I’m in LA um you know sometimes I can they can help me out a little bit you know they they get free trips to LA so they can do some work.

Tyrese Maxey speaks to the media during the Sixers Media Day.