About two and a half years ago, Joel Embiid was riding high at the top of the NBA world. Fresh off one of the most efficient and stellar seasons ever from a big man, the Philadelphia 76ers center captured his first-ever MVP award. It was a fitting bow to finally wrap around an all-time start to a professional basketball career. It felt like “The Process,” and an incredible player-to-star development story had been validated all at once.

But ensuing knee injuries robbed Embiid of most of his next two seasons. And after seeing how Embiid has been good, not great, for the 76ers this year, those injuries — which have nagged away at him for much of his career — may unfortunately have sapped away what was remaining of him as an alpha-type superstar. Even though Embiid can still score 20 points a night, he may never be an MVP-caliber player again.

In most circumstances, we’d probably view Embiid’s fall from his perch as a sports tragedy. Also, NBA franchises don’t typically survive windows in which their best player no longer looks like a guy who can take over games on a whim. These are the fraught situations where people start getting benched, traded, released, or fired.

Or, all of the above.

Enter the rise of Tyrese Maxey into his own, well-deserved superstardom.

Through 25 games at the time of this writing, the dynamic point guard is having easily the best season of his career. He’s third in scoring per game, ninth in assists, and is shooting nearly 40 percent from 3 on almost 10 attempts a game. On any given night, Maxey is liable to drop a 40-burger (he already has four of them this season). For all intents and purposes, he might be one of the five hardest defensive covers in the NBA right now. Most importantly, he’s become the clear focal point of a guard and wing-centered 76ers offense that has had to transition away from leaning on someone like Embiid.

That’s no accident. In fact, making Maxey the lead dog was likely a necessity. The gambit has paid off with flying colors.

A young 76ers team that was supposed to be in a transitional year currently sits at No. 4 in the Eastern Conference standings. Maxey is playing out of this world as the 76ers’ lead catalyst. Even though Embiid might no longer be the guy Philadelphia is running its offense through in the clutch, he has adapted well to being his point guard’s trusted sidekick and No. 2 option. He’s accepted the responsibility and his place in Philadelphia’s hierarchy. It’s honestly the perfect role for someone like Embiid, who can still play well in spurts, albeit not at an MVP level.

When Embiid got plagued by his latest bout of injuries, you could’ve told me anything would’ve happened next in his career, and I would’ve believed you. I also would’ve had the 76ers finding a way to cut ties with him as soon as possible in a reboot very high on my list of possible outcomes. Now, I’m not so sure that’s the case anymore. And I definitely didn’t have him readily becoming an effective and willing Robin to Maxey’s Batman.

It is this relationship that may well rescue this era of 76ers basketball and have us all reevaluate what it’s still capable of achieving.

Shootaround

This was Layup Lines, For the Win’s basketball newsletter. Subscribe here to get it delivered to your inbox every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday.