Tyrese Maxey is emerging as Philadelphia 76ers third star

When the Philadelphia 76ers traded for James Harden at the trade deadline, a lot of people around the league became terrified of how good the duo of he and Joel Embiid could become.

The pick-n-roll game between those two alone is enough to terrify opponents, and so far during their time together, they have been playing extremely well.

However, the Sixers also gave up Seth Curry in the deal, worrying some that they could be left without enough scoring. But fear not, because Tyrese Maxey is ready for a larger role.

Tyrese Maxey is emerging as Philadelphia 76ers third star

With James Harden being added to the squad, most people expected Tyrese Maxey to take a backseat. Harden was slated to become the team’s point guard, so Maxey would have to take on a smaller role, right? Wrong.

Harden has played four games with the 76ers, and crazily enough, Maxey has been playing some of his best basketball through those four games.

Over the last four games, Maxey averaged 26.8 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.3 assists while shooting 64.9 percent from the field and 70.0 percent from three-point range.

Obviously, ridiculous shooting numbers like those are destined to drop, but this is merely a reflection of how well Maxey can fit in with both Harden and Embiid.

Maxey’s never been the best playmaker, so putting an elite passer next to him at the other guard spot allows him to focus on what he does best – scoring the basketball.

In fact, Maxey is attempting more shots per game than Harden is. Embiid leads the trio, but after that, Maxey is taking the second-most shots of anybody on the team.

His elite three-point shooting numbers have quickly replaced the production of Seth Curry. And again, while he won’t shoot 70 percent on the season, it’s great progress to see from the 21-year-old.

So rather than potentially searching for a third star to pair with Embiid and Harden, the 76ers might already have that player on the team. And his name is Tyrese Maxey.