‘It was all God’s plan’: Tyrese Maxey, Mike Muscala, and the unlikely road that landed an All-Star in Philly

As the 76ers entered 2020 draft night, Doc Rivers and Sam Cassell had become enamored with Tyrese Maxey.

The two Sixers coaches at the time — both NBA points guards in a past life — sat together in a “silent panic” as the picks unfolded, hoping Maxey would continue slipping to No. 21.

“It really just fell right into our hands,” said Rivers, now head coach of the Milwaukee Bucks.

That was the final piece that needed to align — amid some bizarre basketball and societal circumstances — for Maxey to become a Sixer.

The COVID-19 pandemic canceled the 2020 NCAA Tournament, swapping a potential final on-court showcase for Maxey with Kentucky for “working out for, like, [eight] months straight.” Several pre-draft interviews with teams were via videoconference, preventing decision-makers from witnessing Maxey’s work ethic and joyful demeanor in person and making that year’s overall talent evaluation an even more inexact science. And the only reason the Sixers had the 21st overall selection in the first place was because of a game-winning shot in the Orlando restart bubble by the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Mike Muscala, which officially conveyed a traded top-20-protected draft pick to the Sixers.

“People will remember that number [21],” Indiana Pacers coach Rick Carlisle said when asked recently about Maxey. “Because if you redraft that draft, he’s at the very top somewhere, for sure.”

Now Maxey is an All-Star starter, living up to “The Franchise” nickname bestowed upon him by teammate Joel Embiid, a former MVP. The explosive guard entered Thursday ranked sixth in the NBA in scoring average (28.9 points), leading the league in minutes played (38.6), and adding 6.8 assists, 4.1 rebounds, and 2 steals per game. He signed a five-year, $204 million max contract in the summer of 2024.

Does he ever think about the specific series of events needed for his Philly origin story to occur? Yes.

“I’m blessed,” Maxey told The Inquirer last month. “I really got lucky.”

Maxey and his family were at the SEC Tournament in Nashville in March 2020 when the remainder of the college basketball season was canceled because of the pandemic’s onset.

Fueled by Maxey and fellow future NBA guard Immanuel Quickley, Kentucky was a threat to make a deep NCAA Tournament run. March Madness can become a prime stage for an NBA prospect’s draft stock to soar, and missing out left Maxey with a sour “What did you come to college for?” taste.

“I was like, ‘I’m ready to go home and be with my family,’” Maxey said. “My mom came and got me that night.”

Maxey went back to his hometown of Garland, Texas, near Dallas and trained with his father, Tyrone, his longtime coach. After signing with Klutch Sports agency, Maxey then went to Los Angeles to work with personal trainer Chris Johnson.

When Maxey learned that Rajon Rondo, a standout NBA point guard and Johnson client, arrived at the gym at 5:30 a.m., Maxey told Johnson, “I’m there.” That daily workout fed into a weightlifting session with performance coach Al Reeser, who today accompanies Maxey with the Sixers. Maxey would return to the gym for a 10 a.m. shooting session with various players, including all-time great LeBron James, before a third workout at 12:30 p.m. With no guidance yet from an NBA team or system he would be stepping into, Maxey drilled all aspects of his game, including shooting touch, passing reads, and three-point accuracy.

I knew right away, ‘Oh, he’s going to be pretty special.’

Maxey has kept that early-morning routine ever since, believing it now gives him a psychological advantage over competitors.

“I knew then he had everything that it took for him to have a very promising career in the NBA,” Johnson told The Inquirer in 2021. “Whatever franchise was going to get him was going to get somebody that, No. 1, could be coached. No. 2, would be prepared. No. 3, not afraid of hard work — but not just regular hard work. We talk about elite training when your body [doesn’t] feel like it.

“I knew right away, ‘Oh, he’s going to be pretty special.’”

Then Maxey’s parents made him put on a polo shirt for video interviews with team executives, where he hoped his authenticity would pierce through the “kind of awkward” digital setting. Tyrone reminded his son to make sure he conveyed that he had been trained as a point guard, even though he played off the ball at Kentucky.

The most common feedback Maxey remembers receiving from teams back then was he “can’t shoot,” after he made 29.2% of his three-point attempts at Kentucky. He attempted to change that narrative during a workout with an unnamed team, when Tyrone said Tyrese made 33 consecutive three-pointers and “and they still passed on him” on draft night.

“He was proving he could shoot in front of this team,” said Tyrone, who will watch Maxey compete in the All-Star three-point contest on Saturday. “ … And it’s like, ‘Man, this is crazy.’”

One team Maxey believed had “no chance” to join? The Sixers.

He had “zero” contact with the organization before the draft. But that front office was studying him behind the scenes.

President of basketball operations Daryl Morey credits general manager Elton Brand and the scouting staff for doing the bulk of the evaluation on Maxey before Morey joined the organization from the Houston Rockets in November 2020.

Maxey’s quickness and finishing around the rim immediately stood out. Morey believed in Maxey’s perimeter shooting mechanics and “secondary indicators” of NBA potential, despite the low three-point percentage in college. Morey also picked up on the pride Maxey took in improving his defense, which has turned him into a legitimate disruptor on that end of the floor in his sixth NBA season.

Morey told The Inquirer in 2021 that Maxey was ranked around 10th on the Sixers’ big board entering the draft.

“A lot of his on-the-surface things didn’t pop at Kentucky,” Morey said, “which is why I think the scouts get a lot of credit on this one.”

To even possess that pick, however, the Sixers needed two fortuitous 3-pointers at Disney World by Muscala, the former Sixer who at that time was a role player for the Thunder.

Those shots beat the Miami Heat in their second-to-last regular-season bubble game, which configured the standings so that the top-20-protected draft pick that Oklahoma City owed the Sixers would convey that year. Muscala told The Inquirer that, as Maxey began his NBA ascension about a year or two later, he began to catch wind from the most-tapped-in Sixers fans of the roundabout impact he had on the team landing its future All-Star.

“It is interesting when you start thinking about different dominoes that fall,” said Muscala, who is now an assistant coach with the Phoenix Suns and said he does not know Maxey.

“Big shot, thanks!” Maxey said when Muscala’s name resurfaced earlier this week. “Without Mike, I’m not here.”

As the draft approached, Maxey said he believed he would go somewhere in the middle of the first round. That perplexed Tyrone, not only as a proud father but as Maxey’s former AAU coach who “knew everybody in that draft.”

Prominent mock drafts slotted LaMelo Ball and Tyrese Haliburton, who have both become All-Stars, ahead of Maxey. Ditto for Killian Hayes, who quickly flamed out of the NBA. Though those outside evaluations regularly praised Maxey’s crafty finishing and expressed belief in his shooting form, The Ringer’s draft guide also critiqued that he “lacked top-end quickness and acceleration.”

When draft night arrived, Maxey’s mother, Denyse, re-created a green room at their Texas home and asked attending loved ones to take a rapid COVID test at the door. Ball, Haliburton, and Hayes all went off the board in the top 12. When the San Antonio Spurs took Devin Vassell at No. 11 and the Orlando Magic selected Cole Anthony 15th, Maxey “knew I was going to sit for a minute.”

Agent Rich Paul called just before the 20th pick, predicting Maxey would be selected by the Miami Heat or the Sixers.

Morey told The Inquirer in 2021 that the Sixers were considering trading down. But when the Heat took Precious Achiuwa of Memphis and Maxey was still available, Morey wanted to shoot for a high-ceiling player instead of settling for a “solid” one.

“We chose not to [trade back] just because we believed in Tyrese so much,” Morey said then. “ … We were surprised he was there, and really thrilled he was there.”

Maxey joined a team that finished with the Eastern Conference’s best record in his rookie season, making early playing time spotty until a couple of breakout playoff performances. Then the opportunities to flourish began.

Ben Simmons’ holdout forced Maxey into starting point guard duties as a second-year player. He got to learn from future Hall of Famer James Harden, then he took over lead ballhandling duties when Harden forced his way out of Philly early in the 2023-24 season.

Maxey formed a dynamic two-man partnership with Embiid, becoming the NBA’s Most Improved Player and a first-time All-Star in 2024. Embiid’s multiple knee surgeries in recent seasons elevated Maxey into the top offensive role, with the electric skill and playing style that made him the top American vote-getter among fans in this year’s All-Star balloting.

That all leads to this weekend, when Maxey will be introduced as an All-Star starter on Sunday.

When Maxey was asked earlier this week if he still looks back on the players who went ahead of him in the 2020 draft, an eavesdropping Trendon Watford — Maxey’s teammate and longtime close friend — vigorously nodded.

“I’ve got to let it go,” Maxey conceded. “It’s over.”

Because all of those bizarre basketball and societal circumstances — a pandemic, a Muscala shot, and a slip down draft boards — aligned to make him a Sixer.

“He landed in the right spot,” Tyrone said. “It was all God’s plan.”