1 76ers stat that highlights Tyese Maxey’s MVP case

After spending the 2024-25 NBA season as the captain of a sinking ship, Tyrese Maxey returned to the Philadelphia 76ers on a mission to prove he can be the top option on a championship-caliber team.

Taking the court with a few new faces like long-time friend Trendon Watford, third overall pick VJ Edgecombe, and eventually Joel Embiid and Paul George, Maxey dazzled on opening night with a 40-piece and hasn’t looked back since. A quarter of the way through the 2025-26 NBA season, Maxey has scored 20 or more points in all 20 games so far, and has crossed the 30-point mark in 11, including a career-high 54 in a win over the Milwaukee Bucks in overtime.

That level of production has understandably led to some fans banging the table for Maxey to be in the running for MVP, a narrative that hasn’t quite caught on just yet, but has the stats to back it up.

Through 20 games, Maxey ranks first in minutes played, first in shots per game, and third in points per game, trailing only Luka Doncic and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. Maxey ranks seventh Association-wide in assists per game at 7.6, is averaging a steal and a half a game, and is dangerously close to the 50/40/90 club with a 46.8/38.4/87.7 shooting split on massive production.

And most tellingly of all, Maxey accounts for the highest share of his team’s points of any player in the Association at 27.3 percent, above elite players like SGA, Jaylen Brown, and Luka Doncic, according to NBA on NBC.

Now granted, unlike Gilgeous-Alexander, Doncic, and company, there are games where Maxey has to score over a quarter of the 76ers’ points out of necessity, as he’s had to play games without Embiid, George, and/or Edgecombe more often than not. When the 76ers are at full strength, they can play a more dynamic game where Nick Nurse’s squad can hunt open shots instead of having No. 0 play hero ball. And yet, so far this season, hero ball hasn’t gone too badly with Maxey at the helm. Give him some help, make a move or two at the trade deadline, and the 76ers might just be good enough to properly showcase their new franchise player as he pushes for MVP consideration.