The Philadelphia 76ers’ brand new and newly minted $200-million men met up in Las Vegas to record another episode of Podcast P, the first featuring one of Paul George’s new teammates. The two discuss a myriad of topics, including what George can expect playing with Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid in Philadelphia and how the Sixers stack up with the other powerhouses in the East.
Paul George starts the episode by congratulating Tyrese Maxey on signing his 5-year $205-million rookie extension. Maxey, who could have signed an extension last summer, showed maturity well beyond his years in allowing the Sixers to see their year-long plan for constructing the team around him and Embiid through. Landing Paul George would not have been possible without the sacrifices Maxey made.
This conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
PG: “I want to congratulate you on a new deal. Obviously that’s major life-changing money right there coming out of your rookie deal to then sign that you waited a year before signing, which is another level of maturity right there. Talk to us a little bit about that process and them coming to you like this is the future of what the team could look like, but we need you to hold out if you can to sign the following year.”
MAXEY: “This is going to be my first time really being able to talk about it. So for me, it was hard, you know what I’m saying? Way hard. I put in a lot of work, then when the work shows and the results come and you perform at the highest level as far as just stepping into different roles and doing whatever they ask you to do. …do all those different things, and you want to reap the benefits, of course. When it came to me, when the opportunity presented itself, it was hard.”
“You see your peers get paid, you see your peers reap the benefits that they deserve, and you just feel like you failed yourself because of all the work that you put in. But I understood where they were coming from, and I think it worked out. It worked out in the long run. I feel like not just for myself but for the team as well. Now I think I’m sitting here with one of my teammates because of it.”
It was certainly worth the wait. Now, with generational wealth secured, Maxey wants to take care of his parents, buy a house in his hometown of Dallas, Texas, and eventually purchase a Lamborghini Urus. Time will tell if Maxey goes the Paul George route of buying his first luxury car on eBay. Maxey says he is happy to be able to focus on improving his game now that the contract discussions are not looming over him.
Maxey has been here for the back end of the Ben Simmons era and the entirety of the James Harden era. He, more so than anybody, knows the importance of fit on the basketball court as a small, score-first point guard. The opportunity to add one of the league’s preeminent wings next to Maxey and Embiid makes for seamless basketball synergy.
“I got a call from big fella [Joel Embiid]. He went down a free agent list, and he is like, ‘that’s what he wants to do.’ I’m like listen man, I’m going to ride with you to the wheels fall off and I think it’s a great idea…The fit is crazy if you think about it. We’ve got if not the best player in the world, the best big man in the world, in big fella, Joel, and then myself a guard and then a wing. You can’t ask for anything better than that.
“In the place where we’re at and then the city where we’re at, it just it all, it seemed like the time of our careers, all the right timing. So just like I’m happy, man, I’m happy, and I’m ready to see what it’s going to look like. Of course, you got to go out there and put the work in and still got to click, do the chemistry and all those different things, and fill out the rest of the roster. But when you look at it, it looks great!”
Make no mistake about it, this team revolves around its Big 3. The organization has enough trust in their incumbent stars to be factored into free agency decisions, and they have been rewarded with the biggest fish reeled in this offseason.
Tyrese Maxey and Joel Embiid have shared a mutually beneficial basketball relationship. Embiid’s gravity alone has opened up so many avenues for Maxey to be able to thrive offensively, none more so than having wide-open shots whenever he wants. Paul George’s best teammates over his career have been perimeter players, and the best center he has played with was offensively limited Roy Hibbert. Maxey, fresh off winning the 2024 NBA Most Improved Player award- an award Paul George also won in 2013- discussed what having Joel Embiid creating space will mean for Paul George.
“For me, a guy that creates his own shot and does things off the dribble, and you don’t have to do those things when Joel’s on the court, you’re so open sometimes it feels like wrong. P, he shoots 41% from three. You know what I’m saying? So when he plays with Big Fella, and they have to trap when they have to triple team him, there’s going to be times next year he [Paul] is going to catch the ball and be like, bro, why am I so open? It’s not right for him.“
“We are talking about Paul, George, dude, a guy that been a superstar and athlete for a long time. It’s like the rotation and stuff. He’s so dominant, he has to see another body, or he’s going to get 70. He’s going to score almost every possession.”
“He’ll also say stuff like ‘I’m going to be Dirk today’ and he’ll go out and dominate the game just shooting all fadeaways, or ‘I’m going to be Shaq today’ and go dominate the post. I remember one time I asked him who he was going to be today, and he was like, ‘I’m going to be Joel Embiid,’ and that’s when he went out and had the 59-point game. This man’s unbelievable. He’s that good. He’s not just raw talent, he really works on his game, he works on his body, he work on staying healthy.”
It does not hurt that both Maxey and George have developed a close and personal friendship with Embiid. George is someone whom Embiid has regularly sought out at All-Star Weekend, and of course, Embiid publicly courted George to the Sixers with his side-eye during the NBA Finals broadcast. Joel is a guarded individual with a small social circle. Having two of his better friends in the league by his side will only make Embiiid feel more comfortable expressing himself on and off the court.
It is on the players to put in the requisite work to gel as a team, but that is nothing these three are not willing to undertake. Philadelphia is a hard-working, blue-collar city, something Maxey and Embiid have embraced being a part of. The city has passion, they expect the same of their sports teams. Paul George says he welcomes the fanbase, holding him and the team accountable.
George comes to Philadelphia being viewed as the final big piece for this Sixers roster. The expectation is to win at the highest level. The Boston Celtics just won the NBA Championship. The New York Knicks improved this offseason by acquiring Mikal Bridges. The Indiana Pacers- George’s first NBA stop- are young and fresh off an Eastern Conference Finals appearance. The Bucks, Cavaliers, Magic, and Heat all will be formidable as well. After spending the past 7 years out West, George spoke to the more natural rivalries of the East.
PG: “I mean, I think for me, it is being back out east, right? Being out west for the past seven years of my career to come back east, I think that alone excites me. And then just the competition, you know what I mean? Obviously, Boston is the team to beat. New York is an iconic place to play. I miss playing there twice within a season. And so that alone is enough to just get you excited about what’s to come.”
“Being out east now, so I’m just looking forward to those battles. I already know how the West was, right? The West was getting crazy. There’s so much parity out west now the east, it is going to be a different battle. It’s a different gameplay, I feel like out east than it is out west. So then just trying to establish our dominance, amongst two other dominant teams within the division, let alone the conference. So I’m just looking forward to that.
TYRESE: “That’s all I know. You know what I mean? I’m going on year five, so that’s all I know. Boston and the Knicks four times a year. We played Boston in, not this year, playoffs, but last year’s playoffs. And we went seven games. We played them in the preseason two. So I’m like, bro, we played this team, what, 13 times this year? It’s like real-life war. The thing in the East is that, I’ll say it may be a little bit different in the West, it’s like these historical battles, they go so far back and it means so much to fans.
“Even just this year playing the Knicks, it was the first time we played them in, I don’t know how many years, 30 years or something like that in the playoffs. So it was like playing them in the playoffs, it was unbelievable. So I think the competition is going to be great. That’s three teams that have one goal in mind. When you have three teams in one division with one goal, it’s going to cause some tension for sure. But that’s all you can ask for as a competitor. You playing against the best of the best four times a year. That’ll get you prepared for the playoffs.”
Sixers fans should be very excited about what this team can accomplish. The stars fit together on the court, and they like each other off the court. The ancillary pieces fit together around them. By all indications, everyone is on the same page and willing to work towards the common goal of winning an NBA Championship.
Podcast P is presented by Wave Sports + Entertainment, and the full episode can be viewed below.
