{"id":74659,"date":"2024-04-23T21:46:09","date_gmt":"2024-04-24T01:46:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=74659"},"modified":"2024-04-23T21:46:09","modified_gmt":"2024-04-24T01:46:09","slug":"sixers-tyrese-maxey-walks-away-nba-most-improved-player-award","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/23\/sixers-tyrese-maxey-walks-away-nba-most-improved-player-award\/","title":{"rendered":"Sixers Star Walks Away with NBA Award"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, Philadelphia 76ers guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/m\/maxeyty01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Tyrese Maxey<\/a> was named the 2024 Most Improved Player of the Year.<\/p>\n<blockquote class=\"twitter-tweet\">\n<p dir=\"ltr\" lang=\"en\">The 2023-24 Kia NBA Most Improved Player is&#8230; Tyrese Maxey!<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/NBAAwards?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#NBAAwards<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/hashtag\/KiaMIP?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">#KiaMIP<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/Kia?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">@Kia<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/to9oMhhYgI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">pic.twitter.com\/to9oMhhYgI<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 NBA (@NBA) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/NBA\/status\/1782909229805793659?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">April 23, 2024<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n<p>Averaging 25.9 points and 6.2 assists per game on 37.3 percent from 3, Maxey posted All-Star numbers. Indeed, at just 23 years old, Maxey has already earned his first All-Star selection. It\u2019s his second consecutive season averaging at least 20 points per game and his third straight season converting at least 37 percent of his 3-point attempts.<\/p>\n<p>For reference, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/h\/hardeja01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">James Harden<\/a> averaged 21.0 points and 10.6 assists per game (79 games) while shooting 37.0 percent from 3 with the Sixers. With that said, Maxey has replaced Harden as well as nearly player could.<\/p>\n<h2>Tyrese Maxey Walks Away with Most Improved Player Award<\/h2>\n<p>A <a href=\"https:\/\/youtu.be\/dO0pKIGyOIY?si=PgBACMbKd6raxRvo\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">slithery shot-creator<\/a> at 6-foot-2 and 200 pounds, Maxey\u2019s wasn\u2019t able to win without <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/e\/embiijo01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Joel Embiid<\/a>. Indeed, Philadelphia was 16-27 without Embiid in the 2023-24 regular season. Nonetheless, he did everything he could to put the team on his back, averaging at least 24 points per game in every month.<\/p>\n<p>Maxey beat out a worthy group of Most Improved Player finalists, with Chicago Bulls guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/w\/whiteco01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Coby White<\/a> and Houston Rockets center <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/s\/sengual01.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Alperen Sengun<\/a> finishing among <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/13\/rockets-alperen-sengun-eligible-nba-award-games-requirement\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">the top-three vote-getters<\/a>. Each player averaged at least 19.0 points and 5.0 assists per game, with the Rockets and Sixers finishing with a record above .500.<\/p>\n<p>To that point, Brooklyn Nets guard <a href=\"https:\/\/www.basketball-reference.com\/players\/t\/thomaca02.html\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Cam Thomas<\/a> arguably should\u2019ve received greater recognition as a Most Improved Player candidate.<\/p>\n<p>At the same time, Thomas\u2019 playmaking was a notch below this season\u2019s MIP finalists. Furthermore, the Nets finished the season with a 32-50 record. The Bulls also won fewer than 40 games last season. However, they managed to make the Play-In Tournament, giving them a chance at a NBA Playoffs berth. Brooklyn was 4.0 games out of a Play-In Tournament.<\/p>\n<h3>Defying Expectations<\/h3>\n<p>Drafted in the bottom-third of the first round, the Texas native has definitely exceeded expectations.<\/p>\n<p>Certainly, he played for a <a href=\"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/04\/12\/kentucky-basketball-makes-unexpected-head-coaching-hire\/\" target=\"_blank\" target=\"_self\">prestigious college program<\/a> that\u2019s produced several high-caliber NBA players. However, Maxey shot just 42.7 percent from the field and 29.2 percent from 3 leaving Kentucky. He also averaged just 3.2 assists to 2.2 assists per game, leading to questions about his true position.<\/p>\n<p>Displaying a level of dedication typically reserved for the league\u2019s marquee players, Maxey\u2019s work ethic up to this point lends credence to the belief that he can become a perennial All-Star candidate.<\/p>\n<p>There are still questions about his shot-selection and perimeter defense. Nonetheless, he\u2019s in just his fourth season. He should be expected to grow in both of those areas.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>On Tuesday, Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey was named the 2024 Most Improved Player of the Year. The 2023-24 Kia NBA Most Improved Player is&#8230; Tyrese Maxey!#NBAAwards | #KiaMIP | @Kia pic.twitter.com\/to9oMhhYgI \u2014 NBA (@NBA) April 23, 2024 Averaging 25.9 points and 6.2 assists per game on 37.3 percent from 3, Maxey posted All-Star numbers. [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":74667,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[13,1608,62,3],"tags":[1143,2478],"class_list":["post-74659","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-76ers","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","tag-nba-awards","tag-tyrese-maxey"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74659","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74659"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74659\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74667"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74659"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74659"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74659"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}