As expected, the Sixers and restricted free agent guard Tyrese Maxey have reached an agreement in principle on a five-year, maximum-salary contract, sources tell ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski (Twitter link).
As our breakdown of the maximum salaries for 2024/25 shows, Maxey’s new deal will start at $35,147,000 (25% of this year’s salary cap) and will be worth a total of $203,852,600. It’ll be fully guaranteed, with no option in year five, Wojnarowski adds (via Twitter).
Maxey initially became eligible for a rookie scale extension last July, but word broke just over a year ago that the Sixers wouldn’t be pursuing a new deal with the rising star at that time, since they wanted to maximize their cap room for 2024.
By letting Maxey reach free agency instead of extending him early, Philadelphia is carrying a cap hold worth just $13MM for the guard this summer instead of having him on the books for $35MM+, which helped clear the path for the team to land Paul George on a maximum-salary contract.
After Maxey agreed to put off his payday by a year, there was always an expectation that the 76ers would take care of him in restricted free agency, but he made that decision even easier by leveling up as the club’s lead guard in 2024/25 following the early-season trade of James Harden.
Maxey averaged 25.9 points, 6.2 assists, and 3.7 rebounds in 37.5 minutes per game across 70 outings (all starts) this past season, posting a shooting line of .450/.373/.868. The performance earned him the 2024 Most Improved Player award.
The No. 2 free agent on our top-50 list, Maxey is the third player in the 2024 FA class to agree to a maximum-salary contract this summer, joining his new teammate George and Pacers forward Pascal Siakam. Lakers star LeBron James could join that group in the coming days, though the terms of his next deal remain up in the air as L.A. considers its roster options.
If he had made an All-NBA team this season, Maxey would’ve qualified for a contract that started at up to 30% of this year’s cap instead of 25%, increasing his potential earnings to $244.6MM. While he did earn All-NBA votes, the 23-year-old finished a little outside of the top 15, missing out on meeting the Rose Rule criteria.
The 76ers will use up all their cap room before going over the cap to officially re-sign Maxey using his Bird rights.
Embiid, Maxey, and George are signed for years now. How terrifying for the rest of the league.
Just kidding.
Was expecting the Sixers to wait a bit so that they could fill out the rest of the roster more before jumping in with both feet, but there you go. Sixers pot committed, but they have a main guys they want.
Sidenote, it feels very weird for me to be on the Sixers side in this, more or less. I’m not an Embiid fan and am usually less than fond of Morey/the brass.
The sixers will use their cap room before going over the cap to officially sign mad max. Side note you think you know what you know but continue to look foolish.
Sigh.
For the record, I realize that the contract will only become guaranteed after July 6th. But that wasn’t what I was talking about. “Locked in for their vision of the future” is probably a better way of putting it. They can still waive Reed, if needed, and they can still sign guys under the cap first (Gary Trent/Miles Bridges/Tyus Jones/Caleb Martin, maybe bring back Melton, ect). But whatever moves they make, there’s no question that they’ve gone all-in on PG/Maxey/Embiid as their core 3.
5 years $204 million! Tyrese Maxey is worth every penny!!!!! The young fella game is so nice and clean! He’s going to be a force to be reckoned with for years to come.
I think it will take a bit for the contract to be finalized for this reason.
I say you are stating the obvious. I respect opinions if unbiased. Im a sixers fan since the days of chamberlain hopefully you as a fan of your team can get it.
Love everything about Maxey. He’s my favorite young player in the league. He is the Celtics biggest problem. Lucky for us we have the Embiid stopper for another year in Horford. Next few years Boston, Philly, and the Knicks will be battling!
Probably the 3 loudest most obnoxious fan bases in the NBA and I love it. Cheers to all the northeastern basketball fans the next few years will be a treat
Add 2 of Marcus Morris, Reggie Bullock or Dario Saric. Add one of Lowry, Bev, Monte, Payne and DinWiddie.
Need a PF, forward depth, and a point guard.