Tyrese Maxey laughs off LeBron’s helicopter as Nick Nurse moves him off the ball

CAMDEN, N.J. — Oct. 14, 2026 — On a Philadelphia 76ers team that now travels with LeBron James, the helicopter and the noise, Tyrese Maxey keeps finding ways to make the circus look small.

Liberty Ballers’ Paul Hudrick ran into Maxey on his way out of the team’s practice facility this week, far from the players’ private lot. Asked if he was lost, the guard grinned: “Nah, I’m getting on LeBron’s helicopter.” Minutes later the All-NBA guard, on a max contract, was sitting on the curb outside the gates waiting for a ride, not long after James had lifted off from the helipad atop the franchise’s business building.

“One of us left on the helicopter, the other one sitting on the curb,” Maxey said. “I ain’t gonna lie, that was funny.”

Why the noise does not move him

The joke lands because of what Maxey has already lived through in Philadelphia. He was the 21st pick in 2020, lost most of his first camp to COVID-19, and played uneven rookie minutes under Doc Rivers. He was floated in trade talks for James Harden and Kyle Lowry, then played alongside both. He watched the Ben Simmons holdout, slid off the ball for the Harden era, stepped into a bigger role after Harden’s own exit and came away with his first All-Star trip and the Most Improved Player award.

After the lost 2024-25 season, he answered with his first All-NBA selection in 2025-26. This offseason he became a father and helped recruit James to join Jaylen Brown in a rebuilt starting five. James and Brown have both praised how he welcomed them, and rookie Labaron Philon Jr. has repeatedly credited Maxey for easing his own adjustment.

Maxey made his priorities plain on media day, after joking that he “wanted Bron” and not the cameras that came with him.

“Listen, with me, I’m focused on basketball, a job,” he said. “The rest of that, I’m not really worried about it. That doesn’t really bother me, honestly. I’ve been blessed to play in Philadelphia for my entire career so far. I played in Kentucky. I’m kind of used to the noise and all those different things.”

“My biggest thing is I want to help my teammates, this organization, try to win basketball games and try to win at the highest level. So the rest of that, the hoopla, all that, all y’all people being here, that doesn’t bother me.”

Nurse is moving him off the ball

The bigger change is on the floor. With James, Brown and other creators around him, coach Nick Nurse has used the preseason to slide Maxey away from the ball, running him off screens and into catch-and-shoot looks instead of asking him to start every possession.

“I think that he’s kind of had to generate so much by himself,” Nurse said, as relayed by Sixers Wire’s Ky Carlin. “He’s had to bring it up. There were lots of dribbles, lots of ball screens and all that kind of stuff. … So, he should get a good chunk of either guys creating for him a little bit more, or some off ball action that gets him freed up, too. It should help him just to have a little more energy to rebound more, play defense, things like that.”

It is not a new skill for Maxey. At Kentucky he shared the backcourt with Immanuel Quickley and Ashton Hagans, and he played off the ball during the Harden years. Nurse likes what he has seen so far.

“To me, he looks great,” Nurse said. “Things are smooth, confident. He’s getting stronger … I think we work more on our offensive stuff in practice and shoot around than we do during these games. So, I think we’ll continue to move him around.”

What’s next

The Sixers host the Boston Celtics in their preseason finale on Friday, then open the regular season Tuesday, Oct. 20, against the defending champion New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden on banner night. How Nurse balances Maxey’s on-ball creation with his new off-ball role next to James and Brown will be one of the first things to watch in Philadelphia.