Tyrese Maxey could earn max contract extension with Sixers

Could John Calipari add yet another max-contract player to his long list of paydays in the NBA? Tyrese Maxey is on the cusp of cashing out with the Philadelphia 76ers.

Averaging a career-high 20.3 points to go with 3.5 assists and 2.9 rebounds per contest, Maxey has emerged as a clear star in Philly alongside Joel Embiid and James Harden. And he’s knocking down an absurd 43.4% of his 3-pointers on 6.2 attempts per contest, both career-highs.

The Sixers locked in the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference Playoffs, and Maxey was a big reason for it. Of course they’d want to keep the 23-year-old around for the long haul. It’s just going to cost them.

“He is eligible for a contract extension this summer, and that extension has gone up significantly in value—in fact, executives around the league increasingly are saying that Maxey is headed for a max contract extension with the Sixers,” Sean Deveney of Heavy Sports reported this week, adding the following from one NBA GM: “They have a lot of big contracts they’re dealing with obviously. But they’re going to have to make him another one. He’s a max guy.”

What could that contract look like exactly? We’re talking hundreds of millions for the native of Dallas, Texas.

“A max deal could be worth five years and about $200 million for Maxey, though he could choose to take a shorter deal to get himself to free agency—and a bigger share of the NBA’s new TV deal, expected to start in 2025-26—faster,” Deveney reported.

And then another quote from one Eastern Conference executive: “They might have thought there was room to negotiate there, but look at what the guy has done. He’s gotten better at every turn, his work ethic is really, really amazing from everyone around him. That’s what stands out. This guy is only getting better. Probably, there’s no negotiation, they’re going to have to max him out.”

James Harden’s future in Philadelphia remains in doubt, with ongoing speculation that he may return to Houston this offseason, where he spent eight seasons prior to his departure in 2021.

Will Maxey be Harden’s long-term (and expensive) replacement with the Sixers? It’s trending that way.