It’s the start of awards season in the NBA, and on Tuesday, the winner of the Most Improved Player award was announced live on TNT’s pregame show ahead of Game 2 of the first round of the playoffs between the Phoenix Suns and Minnesota Timberwolves.
The finalists were Tyrese Maxey of the Philadelphia 76ers, Alperen Sengun from the Houston Rockets, and the Chicago Bulls’ Coby White.
In the end, the winner was Maxey.
PHILLY STAND UP‼️
Tyrese Maxey is the NBA’s 2024 Most Improved Player 🔥 pic.twitter.com/W9pjBrpbuk
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) April 23, 2024
When this season began, the Sixers were in a quandary after James Harden had asked to be traded and went after executive Daryl Morey after his trade wish hadn’t been granted over the summer.
But Harden was traded very early in the season to the Los Angeles Clippers, and it gave Maxey the room to spread his wings and take off like a bald eagle.
Last season, Maxey did well by averaging 20.3 points and 3.5 assists a game, but he upped those numbers to 26.9 and 6.2, respectively, this year, and that improvement resulted in his first selection to the All-Star Game.
Before Joel Embiid suffered his meniscus injury at midseason, he and Maxey drove Philly to the second-best record in the Eastern Conference and had the team looking like a championship contender.
Right now, the Sixers trail the New York Knicks 0-2 in the playoffs, but Maxey has kept them competitive by scoring 33 points in Game 1 and 35 points in Game 2.
Meanwhile, Embiid has shot poorly, and that will need to change if they are to come back and win the series, something Embiid promised they would do.
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