The Philadelphia 76ers are off to a strong start to their 2025-26 NBA campaign. And they’re doing it without Joel Embiid doing the heavy lifting and Paul George playing.
Philly is 4-0 to open the year because sixth-year guard Tyrese Maxey is cooking. Maxey is the NBA’s current scoring leader at 37.5 points per game. He also leads the league in minutes per game at 43 and is averaging 8.3 assists per game and shooting 47.4 percent from 3-point range.
Advertisement
According to Hall of Famer Paul Pierce, Maxey’s play and the Sixers’ dynamics remind him of the 2006 Miami Heat team, which won the NBA championship behind a young superstar guard named Dwyane Wade.
“When you look at Philly, it reminds me of that D-Wade Miami team where he had the whole old heads that had the experience, and he was a young boy and brought them a title,”said Pierce.”
Maxey looking like young D-Wade
Wade was only in his third NBA season in 2006 when the Heat added veterans like Jason Williams, James Posey, Antoine Walker, and Gary Payton to help Dwyane Wade and Shaquille O’Neal win the franchise’s first NBA title. They did, behind Wade, who put up a then-career-high 27.2 points per game.
Advertisement
Like Wade was in 2005-06, Maxey is only 24 years old but is in his sixth year in the league. Tyrese won the Most Improved Player award and was named to the East All-Star team in 2024, and as mentioned above, he is putting up sensational numbers early this season.
“They got the young superstar in Maxey,” added Pierce. “So you don’t need Embiid to go out there and get 30. Just like how Shaq was in Miami, that’s just his presence was enough. Zo, Toine, they got George, Embiid. That’s what this is reminding me of, I’m telling you.”
But Shaq was still dominant in 2005-06
After Shaq finished runner-up in the MVP race during his first year in Miami, O’Neal kind of stepped back in Year 2 and allowed Wade to take over. However, Pierce is incorrect when he says that just Shaq’s presence was enough, because “Diesel” was still a 20-point scorer in 2005-06 and was even named to the All-NBA first team that year.
Advertisement
Meanwhile, Embiid has played three out of the Sixers’ four games this season. However, he has been limited to just 20 minutes per game so that he can recover from his knee issues. Despite his minutes restriction, Joel has averaged 16.3 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game, which isn’t too bad. Pierce added that he expects Embiid and George, too, to fully recover by the time the season goes deep and both should be ready for the playoffs.
As we know, the 2005-06 Heat went all the way to the championship series, where they defeated Dirk Nowitzki and the Dallas Mavericks, 4-2 in the 2006 NBA Finals. It remains to be seen how far Maxey can carry the Sixers this season. However, if they are to advance deep into the playoffs, it will be mainly due to the tremendous performance of their young star, Maxey.
This story was originally reported by Basketball Network on Oct 31, 2025, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.