“Me and James are still close. He’s like a big brother,” Maxey said. “As soon as he came in here, he embraced me. He taught me a lot. All he’s done here is elevate my game.”
The Sixers acquired Harden from the Brooklyn Nets in 2021-22. Philadelphia lost to the Miami Heat in the 2022 Eastern Conference Semifinals and fell to the Boston Celtics in the 2023 semifinals. Harden is averaging 21.0 points, 6.4 rebounds and 10.6 assists in 79 games with the Sixers.
Maxey is one of the top young players in the NBA. He averaged 20.3 points, 2.9 rebounds and 3.5 assists last season while shooting 48.1% from the field, 43.4% from beyond the arc and 84.5% from the free-throw line.
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This pairs well with his comments on JJ Reddicks podcast;
“He didn’t make it weird at all,” Maxey said on ‘The Old Man and the Three’ Podcast. “He came in and was very like… Just not what I expected. I’m going to be honest, just not what I expected. He was very receptive. He worked hard, he did all the drills. He was talking to even young guys that he didn’t know. Think about; James Harden, MVP, scoring champ, two-time assist leader, he’s sitting there talking to guys like Ricky Council like, ‘Hey, when you’re in help, you should do this,’ And I’m like, this is not what I was picturing.”
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These two have a great bromance and Harden clearly loved mentoring him. too bad Daryl Morey a whole bitch