SUMMARY
- Tyrese Maxey has won the 2024 NBA MIP award.
- Shaquille O'Neal credits Maxey for stepping up after James Harden left the 76ers.
Shaquille O’Neal showered Tyrese Maxey with compliments after the Philadelphia 76ers star’s latest accomplishment. As the majority of NBA fans should be aware, Maxey is the starting point guard for the Philadelphia 76ers and has been playing quite well this season.
Due to the leap he has taken in order to elevate his game to the next level this year, Maxey recently won the Most Improved Player award. Although this isn’t as prestigious as the MVP award, it still gives credit to and acknowledges players who have gotten significantly better within a span of a season. Now that the background information has been provided, one must wonder what Shaq had to say about Maxey.
Shaquille O’Neal credits Tyrese Maxey for stepping up to the occasion
The context for the radical growth of a player always deserves to be brought to the forefront after they have won the MIP award. In Maxey’s case, he had already proven to be quite a good player last season. At the start of this season, James Harden abruptly left the 76ers to play for the Los Angeles Clippers. That left Joel Embiid with no co-star to help establish the 76ers as postseason contenders.
As a result of Harden leaving, Maxey was given more responsibilities and playing time on the court. Shaquille O’Neal kept all of this in mind when discussing the 23-year-old 76ers star and his winning the MIP award this season.
There is no denying that Maxey was ready when his number was called to step up. He even kept the 76ers from falling out of the playoff picture when Joel Embiid was hurt midway through the season. Finally, let us take a look at his growth in terms of statistics.
Tyrese Maxey has made a 5-point jump and almost doubled his assists this season
Since James Harden could facilitate as well as score, fans were left wondering who could fill his shoes after the Beard left the Philadelphia 76ers to join the Los Angeles Clippers. Not many of them could have predicted that Maxey would improve his game radically.