9. Tyrese Maxey, Philadelphia 76ers
Tyrese Maxey’s success this past season somewhat came out of left field. Though, there’s no question that it’s something the Philadelphia 76ers desperately needed. He filled in the role of the team’s second star (until they acquired James Harden) and the team was quite competitive.
Maxey averaged 18 points and four assists on 49 percent shooting from the field and 43 percent shooting from 3-point range. What makes it all scarier is that he will have the opportunity to have an even better season playing a full year off of Harden and Joel Embiid.
I’m interested to see what the next evolution of Maxey is but there’s no question that he’s on the verge of stardom. It’s actually quite amazing how well the Sixers managed to bounce back from the Ben Simmons fiasco. Make no mistake, a big part of that was the emergence of Maxey.