July 13, 2025
Kamil Krzaczynski/Imagn Images
Somehow, Tyrese Maxey is already headed into his sixth NBA season. Time flies.
LAS VEGAS -- Tyrese Maxey and Trendon Watford agree on most things. Childhood friends now turned NBA teammates, the 24-year-olds sat with Sixers head coach Nick Nurse watching the Summer Sixers' contest against the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday. They are thrilled to be joining forces. But there is one disconnect that Maxey and Watford cannot seem to figure out.
Maxey claims that when he first met Watford at a youth basketball camp when they were teenagers, Watford and his friends did not want to talk to him because he was not ranked highly enough. Watford has repeatedly disputed this claim. Maxey is urging the media to take into account his half-decade of telling the truth when they discuss the matter.
In any case, the two are incredibly close these days, and Maxey was giddy to talk about the fact that he no longer has to play against Watford. For once, they can be teammates.
At halftime of Saturday's game, Maxey and Watford made their way over to a nearby media contingent and spoke about their excitement to be teammates. Maxey also spoke about his first impressions of No. 3 overall pick VJ Edgecombe, how he plans to lead a young Sixers backcourt and more. The latest from Las Vegas in another Sixers soundbites:
• Maxey on how he found out Watford was joining the Sixers:
“It's extremely cool. I mean, it's a blessing… I just can't even believe it. It doesn't seem real yet. But the crazy part about it is I called him the day free agency started. And I'm just like, as a friend, ‘Hey, do what you got going on? Where are you going? What are you thinking?’ He tells me what he was thinking. So I take a nap. I wake up, I’ve got, like, five missed calls. Phone calls from Nurse. I'm like, ‘Man, what's going on? Let me see what's going on.’”
• Maxey on what Watford can bring the Sixers on the floor:
“I think he brings an element that we haven't had, an element of someone who can rebound and kind of push and create, who can guard both positions on the other end. At the end of the day, if you have somebody we can throw the ball to in the post mismatch circumstances, then he can get a bucket for us for sure. So I think he'll do a lot of different things, and I think it's the perfect platform for him to showcase his talent to help a team that's trying to win.”
MORE: Trendon Watford film study
• Maxey on his early impressions of Edgecombe:
"I think he's been great. Just the game that I saw and then just talking to him before, I think his mindset's in the right place. I think he's wanting to go out there and compete extremely hard. I see the same things everybody else sees: someone who can probably work himself to being a star in this league. Man, what he does, his physical gifts, his athletic abilities, that gives him an advantage already. And then he works on the other things, he’ll be great. I feel so old saying that.”
• Maxey on what he made of Justin Edwards and Adem Bona in their rookie seasons:
“[Edwards] was kind of thrown into the fire. He kind of came up, I think it was in Sacramento, and [Nurse] just kind of threw him in the game. Bona we were able to see [grow] over time, and it was really good. I think Bona really kind of solidified himself as a good rotation big in his league, someone who can block shots, who can score the ball, like… He talks defensively. That's something that you really need when you're a big. And Justin just plays the game at his own pace, and I like the way he plays defensively and the way he competes. So those two guys are going to be extremely important in our rotation.”
• Maxey on the upcoming competition for minutes in a crowded backcourt between himself, Quentin Grimes, Jared McCain and Edgecombe (assuming the team re-signs Grimes):
“I think the biggest thing is everybody that you just named in that backcourt is competitive, extremely competitive. Which is good, though. Good competitive. Jared comes in last year at training camp, we always talked about how competitive he was, how good he was at training camp. That's going to be good for us. We need that. We need people to -- we’ve got to push each other every single day, and that's the only way we’re going to be good together, collectively. Touches and minutes and all that, we’ve all got to be willing to sacrifice for each other and willing to go out there and try to help us win games. That's what we’ve got to do at the end of the day, and that's what we're going to do.”
MORE: McCain and Edgecombe growing close in Las Vegas
• Maxey on the differences between this offseason and last offseason, and how his hand and finger are feeling after an injury caused him to miss the final few weeks of the season:
“This one is a little different, of course, because we ended earlier. But the difference between this offseason and last offseason -- the main difference is last offseason, I was going through, I guess technically, free agency or a contract. So I couldn't work out in the beginning of the offseason because I didn't want to get hurt or anything. So this offseason -- my hand, my finger healed all the way. I've been hitting the ground running. So I've been working for months now. I feel really good. Feel really good. I can't wait to get into the season. I think I hit the ground running fast. That’s one thing I’m happy about.”
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Full transcript | Biggest takeaways
• Maxey on if he believes the Eastern Conference is wide open:
"I mean, the biggest way I look at it is we got to focus on the Sixers right now. I mean, that's what we got to focus on. Honestly, man, from day one, starting with Summer League, draft, all that, we've got to focus on just the 76ers. Once we figured out that portion, then we can worry about everybody else. Figure out rotations, make sure we're all healthy, make sure we're all out there to play. That's the biggest thing I think for us right now. And then once we do that, then we can worry about the East and the rest of the league.”
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