I know a lot of people do not like advanced stats because it’s very easy to create a narrative by cherry-picking them, but I personally find them very interesting. Yes, a large number of them rely on team success and they aren’t perfect for determining a player’s success, but they can still reveal a lot.
Just looking at Maxey you can see he is having a generational year.
Maxey is 6th in PER, 4th in VORP, 4th in OPBM, and 2nd in Win Shares. You can not find a single stat where Maxey can be considered bad. 3rd best TOV%, 5th in BPM, 2nd in OWS.
The list goes on. All while being 41st(!) is USG%. Literally one of the most efficient years ever.
Even traditional stats hold up:
Top 10 in points per game, Top 10 in assists per game, 7th at 3pm per game, Top 10 in free throw percentage, Top 10 in 3p% w at least 5 attempts (playing the majority of games).
He would join Kyrie, Steph, Mitchell, and Ray Allen as the only people in the 21st century to average 25 points on less than 5 free throws a game.
Top 10 in true shooting among players with at least 20 points. Ahead of Giannis, SGA, Mitchell, Fox, Edwards, Lillard, Leonard…
Top 10 in efG% among players with at least 20 points.
Maxey has been a top 3 guard in the entire NBA so far, rivaling Steph Curry and Luka Doncic in every single stat.
I know it’s still early in the season but you don’t just have these stats on a fluke. Maxey is only 23 years old. He should be top 10 in MVP discussions (top 5 according to Jokic stans).