According to Victor Barbosa of Yardbarker on Wednesday, Philadelphia 76ers point guard Tyrese Maxey of Dallas, Texas was named the National Basketball Association Most Improved Player for 2023-24. Maxey becomes the second 76ers player in franchise history to receive the award. He follows point guard Dana Barros of Boston, Massachusetts, who received the honour while with Philadelphia in the 1994-95 season.
In 70 games this season, Maxey had 25.9 points per game, 6.2 assists per game, 3.7 rebounds per game, and one steal per game. He also had a field goal percentage of .450, three point percentage of .373, and a free throw percentage of .868.
The recognition of Maxey for this award is a rather curious one. That is because he actually had a better field goal percentage (.481) and three point percentage (.434) in 2022-23 than he did this season. It should be noted that the 76ers struggled mightily this past season when their star center Joel Embiid was injured. In two months while Embid was out with a torn meniscus, Philadelphia only won 11 of 29 games.
Maxey did have a 5.6 point per game improvement from last season where he averaged 20.3 points per game. He also had a 0.8 rebound per game improvement (2.9 in 2022-23), a 2.7 assist per game improvement (3.5 in 2022-23), and a 0.2 steal per game improvement (0.8 in 2022-23). Maxey’s free throw percentage also improved 23 percentage points as it was .845 in 2022-23.
Also this past season, Maxey had three games where he scored 50 points or more. He had 50 points in a 137-126 Philadelphia win over the Indiana Pacers on November 12, 51 points in a 127-124 Philadelphia win over the Utah Jazz on February 1, and 52 points in a 133-126 76ers win over the San Antonio Spurs on April 7.
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