Is James Harden’s Secret Working for Tyrese Maxey?

Tyrese Maxey has quickly emerged into a scoring guard that defenses must respect when facing the Philadelphia 76ers. Although the opponents have to respect Maxey, the Sixers are still working on getting the third-year guard to earn the same kind of attention from the referees.

Being that Maxey is viewed as undersized, he tends to draw a lot of unfavorable contact when he fearlessly attacks the basket using his speed. More often than not, Maxey draws enough contact that might get a James Harden or Joel Embiid-caliber player a trip to the free throw line.

For Maxey, he sometimes has to take the contact without a whistle and move on to the next play.

One of the key areas 76ers head coach Doc Rivers wanted Maxey to improve on in 2022-2023 is drawing fouls. Considering Maxey is a quick learner with a relentless work ethic in an ideal situation, as he has Harden to learn from, Rivers expects Maxey to take what he picks up from his ten-time All-Star teammate and apply it to his game.

Last week, Maxey talked about gaining some secrets to success from Harden when it comes to drawing fouls. While the young guard couldn’t reveal even a hint about what Harden told him, Maxey is hopeful he can apply what he learned from his backcourt partner to earn more trips to the charity stripe this year.

“[He taught me] a lot,” said Maxey regarding Harden. “I can’t tell you those secrets because he barely told them to me. It took him months to tell me the secrets. He’s been great. He’s MVP and future Hall of Famer. So, everything that he tells me, I soak it up like a sponge.”

With training camp, a few preseason games, and a scrimmage out of the way, is Doc Rivers seeing a difference in Maxey when it comes to applying Harden’s secrets to his game? The head coach recently weighed in, according to Ky Carlin of Sixers Wire.

“I think he’s getting the head snap pretty good,” said coach Doc Rivers. “He even did it today (Sunday). The problem was I was the ref and I don’t call fouls in practice. They’re starting to learn that. Murderers practice only. That’s it.”

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“I think it’s coming,” Rivers added. “I thought late in the year, he got fouled a lot at the basket. It just wasn’t called a lot. I think that will be the next step, not for him, but for people to see that he’s getting fouled if you know what I’m saying.”

Maxey has learned a lot and developed on the go for the Sixers since getting drafted 21st overall two years ago. Coming into the NBA, Maxey’s ability to be a playmaker and three-point scorer has been questioned since his first year out of Kentucky.

By year two, Maxey doubled his scoring production and his assists while knocking down 42 percent of his threes. Now, the Sixers want Maxey to hit the free-throw line more frequently.

During his rookie season, Maxey attempted 1.1 foul shots per game. Last season, that number increased by 3.3 free throws per game as he doubled his minutes on the floor.

Maxey has a long way to go before he reaches Harden’s level, who averaged 8.9 free throws per game with the Sixers last year, but as the young guard continues to attack the basket frequently, the young guard will definitely benefit by selling fouls better than before.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for All76ers, a Sports Illustrated channel. You can follow him for live updates on Twitter: @JGrasso_.