Sixers rookie Tyrese Maxey discusses veterans, handling the NBA grind

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Philadelphia 76ers rookie Tyrese Maxey has had an up and down NBA season. He has entered the league in an unsettling time due to the pandemic where everything is much tougher than it normally is and there is so much he has to handle.

After playing extensively in January when the Sixers were hit hard by the health and safety protocols, the rookie has then gathered a lot of “DNP-CD” moments in games as he continued his development in the league.

In his most recent game on Friday against the Los Angeles Clippers, Maxey hopped off the bench and he scored nine points in a win. For his efforts, he got some praise from veteran teammate Ben Simmons who he already had a relationship with before the season began.

“It’s grown because of how much time we have to spend with each other, he’s been a great influence,” Maxey said of Simmons. “He always encourages me every time I step on the floor. He says, ‘Hey, go out there and do what you do. You know what you’re capable of and we all do and we all trust you so just go out there and play your game’.”

The NBA is always a tough adjustment for any rookie from college to the pros. In college, there will be maybe two games in a week while in the NBA, there will be three and sometimes even four games to have to prepare and be ready for. That is just the grind of a season.

“I think the thing that I was most surprised about is the attention to detail,” Maxey said on his NBA transition. “You don’t have much time to prepare for teams because it’s nonstop basketball nonstop scheduling. You’re playing a different team every single night. So the attention to detail in film sessions and walkthroughs and shoot around and just doing your own film study on your own. I think that’s one of the biggest things I’ve kind of learned this year.”

With the season being so compact and the NBA trying to jam so many games into a short amount of time, that means that there have been games constantly coming and there has not been much rest time. Even in a normal 82 game season, there is not a lot of rest time, but it has been compounded this season due to the way the schedule is.

Thanks to a maniacal work ethic to keep himself in shape, Maxey is handling it pretty well.

“I’ve been pretty good, honestly,” he said. “Our training staff is amazing so getting the treatment and massages and hot and cold tub and different things like that is really helped. Then just staying healthy, eating right and, working out every single day, and trying to stay in shape and stay maintained.”

The Sixers will take on the Golden State Warriors on Monday and the rookie will have to stay ready just in case his number is called in a big matchup.

“Just staying ready,” he finished. “You never know where your number will be called. The coaching staff always tells me every game to stay ready, you never know, and there have been games where I’ve been thrown in and I have to help the team get a W.”

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