Tyrese Maxey has been incredible for the Philadelphia 76ers this season and has led them to a top-four seed in the Eastern Conference, 27 games in. That said, how realistic are his MVP chances?
After 27 games of the 2025-26 NBA season, the Philadelphia 76ers currently sit with a 16-11 record and are the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference. While this isn't spectacular by any means, it's certainly better than people expected and not even comparable to last season.
Though they've remained afloat in the standings, it hasn't been an easy or pretty season thus far as a number of key players have missed a good chunk of time, including Joel Embiid, who is still continuing to miss a lot of time.
To be in this position without the help of Embiid or even Paul George for the majority of the season, it's pretty incredible, and the Sixers have one man to thank for that. That person is Tyrese Maxey, as he's put up MVP-level numbers, leading the team in just about every game this season.
So far, he's averaging 31.7 PPG and 7.1 APG on 46.7/39.9/88.4 shooting splits, which is simply unbelievable. That said, perhaps the most impressive aspect of his game this season is the degree of difficulty that his shots have been. He's clearly been influenced by James Harden throughout the last few seasons, but he's taken an extra step in his game this season that has let that be on full display.
From the Sixers' perspective, it's almost a miracle that he took this big a leap, as it was so needed with Embiid's decline in play and availability. This isn't to say that Embiid isn't a help to the team at all anymore, but it's clear that Maxey is now the face of the franchise.
That said, while he's definitely been the team's MVP and has elite numbers to back that up, his chances at the MVP award aren't very high, as there are a few faces in the Western Conference who are having even better seasons.
Even so, it's important to note that, without a doubt, Maxey is the MVP of the Eastern Conference right now, and he should still be in the conversation. It's a very long season, and there's still a lot of time for him to either completely take over or fall out of the race completely, so we can't give any definitives right now.
What we can say, however, is that he's almost the sole reason why the Sixers are where they are right now, and for that, he deserves all of the credit and recognition in the world.