Tyrese Maxey was sixth in the Most Improved Player voting two years ago, a tribute to the jump he made between his first and second seasons in the NBA. Voters thought the jump he made from his third year to his fourth was even more impressive.
Philadelphia's All-Star guard was named on Tuesday night as the league’s most improved this season.
Maxey’s scoring rose for the third consecutive year, and he finished the regular season averaging 25.9 points, 6.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game — all career-bests.
It’s not uncommon for players to see their numbers soar when given a new role, but that wasn’t the case with Maxey. Consider: two years ago, he averaged 17.5 points, 4.3 assists, 3.2 rebounds and 0.7 steals in 35.3 minutes per game. This year, he topped all those numbers and averaged only 2.2 more minutes per contest.
“It feels great,” Maxey said on the TNT broadcast where the award was announced. “Somebody like myself, who prides myself on putting in a lot of work and outworking people and finding ways to get 1% better every single time I step in the gym, it feels good for that to come to light, honestly.”
Maxey edged Chicago’s Coby White in the voting. Houston’s Alperen Sengun was third. White averaged 19.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game — all career highs. Sengun averaged 21.1 points, 9.3 rebounds, 5.0 assists and 1.2 steals in 32.5 minutes per game — also all career highs.
