August 11, 2025
Bill Streicher/Imagn Images
Philadelphia 76ers star Tyrese Maxey took to Instagram Live on Monday for help learning how to use a can opener, a life lesson the 24-year-old admits he never had to learn growing up.
Tyrese Maxey has the talent to score 52 points in an NBA game and sink wild 3-pointers in the playoffs, but if you need him to open up a can of dog food — he's not your guy.
The Sixers star desperately took to Instagram Live on Monday morning asking friends and fans for help with how to use a manual can opener with gears. His chef, who normally opens dog food cans for Maxey, wasn't home. And nobody else was around to help him.
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"Show me how to work this thing," Maxey said, shaking the tool in frustration.
Comments poured in teasing Maxey for his incompetence, while others offered detailed instructions on how to properly clamp the lip of the can between the two gears and twist the lever. In the video, minutes go by with Maxey making fumbling attempts to use the can opener at all kinds of comically wrong angles.
"What if I just hit it with a spoon?" Maxey asked at one point. "Can I hit it with a spoon and it'll come off?"
Eventually, Maxey grasped the basic mechanics. But when he was still unable to get it to properly slice through the lid, he took out a knife to try digging into a tiny area he had managed to cut. Needless to say, it did not work. Some commenters asked how the 24-year-old missed this life lesson.
"I lived in a house with my mama and my grandmama," Maxey said. "What was I using a can opener for? ... Academically, I'm extremely smart, like numbers and English and science. ... I tell y'all, my mom was opening up cans for me."
At points during the video, there's chirping in the background that sounds like a fire alarm with a dying battery — another household chore Maxey may or may not be equipped to handle.
The sound on Maxey's video eventually cut out as he continued his effort to open the can, and the video ended without a resolution. For Maxey to save face, it might be a good idea to post a future video showing his newfound mastery of the can opener — assuming someone takes the time to show him. Let's just hope the dogs got their breakfast.
