For as long as Tyrese Maxey is in the NBA, his presence will remind the Miami Heat how different things could've been for them if they'd selected the guard with the No. 20 pick in the 2020 NBA Draft instead of Precious Achiuwa. As if they needed another reason to regret it, LeBron James provided one on the "Mind the Game" podcast with co-host Steve Nash, released on Friday morning.
While speaking about why he chose Philadelphia (over teams like Miami), James specifically mentioned his relationship with Maxey.
"My relationship with Tyrese Maxey goes beyond the court... I just love everything about Tyrese Maxey, man. Every day, you get the same person. That is very rare in sports and obviously very rare in life. I've always talked about how great of a person he is. Obviously, we know what he brings to the basketball court."
That makes it hard not to think that had the Heat selected Maxey with the No. 20 pick, right before the Sixers took him off the board at 21, it would've helped sway LeBron back to Miami for a second stint.
Tyrese Maxey helped get LeBron to Philadelphia
We already know that Maxey helped recruit the superstar to the Sixers, and LeBron himself said that the guard was one of the first people to call him after he decided to leave the Lakers. While James said that he doesn't like to speak to outsiders when making that kind of decision, he couldn't shut the guard out.
Maxey probably didn't have to do much convincing. He's established himself as an elite scorer, coming off a season where he averaged a career-high 28.3 points per game. He doesn't need the ball in his hands to be effective, making it possible to play with someone of James' stature.
LeBron also cited the Jaylen Brown trade and the desire to help Joel Embiid win his first championship as reasons he was drawn to the Sixers.
But it's worth wondering whether Philadelphia would've pursued Brown if it didn't already have Maxey. Rather than give the Paul George chapter another shot, the Sixers could've pointed to Maxey's play as a reason they needed to push harder to win now. There is a lot to like about the Brown addition, especially his durability, since Maxey carried a lot of pressure to navigate George and Embiid missing time.
Trading for Giannis helped Heat, but it wasn't enough
Miami was believed to be one of the final teams in the running for LeBron, with Cleveland and, of course, Philadelphia. While the signs seemed to point to another return to the Cavaliers, the Heat probably had a better shot at signing him because they made the aggressive move of trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Rich Paul even said he thought James would end up back in Miami for a little bit, and he wasn't the only one who thought so.
In the end, Philadelphia won out, and there's nothing that can be done about it, just like the Heat can't go back in time and undo their 2020 draft mistake of selecting Achiuwa, who spent one season with the team.
Still, it's only human to think that if Maxey had called Miami home for the past six years, the Heat could have added another trophy to their case by now, and LeBron could've made his way back to add even more hardware.
Add us as a preferred source on Google