Tyrese Maxey is well on his way to becoming a Philadelphia icon. He took it a step further by handling dogs at the National Dog Show just outside Philly in Oaks, Pa., broadcast on Thanksgiving Day.
The Philadelphia 76ers point guard is leading the NBA with 39.9 minutes per game, but took time on Nov. 16 to guide border collies named Howie and Spike through an agility course — with mixed results. While Maxey, a natural shooting guard, has thrived as the lead guard in the Sixers offense, the dogs didn’t fare quite as well under Maxey’s direction.
Tyrese Maxey may be overtaxed this season — not just on dog courses
Maxey is easily the NBA’s leader in minutes this season, with teammate VJ Edgecombe a distant second with 37.3 minutes per game. That’s a huge workload. By comparison, last year’s season leader, Josh Hart, was at 37.3 minutes per game. He’s playing fewer minutes than the 43.1 per game he averaged in October, but Maxey is still carrying a huge workload with Joel Embiid and Paul George mostly absent.
That’s showing in his statistics. In his last six games, Maxey is still scoring a lot — 32.5 points per game — but he’s shooting only 35.4% from three-point range and turning the ball over 3.2 times per game. He’s still getting to the foul line, but overall, Maxey’s starting to show signs of overwork.
His cameo as a dog whisperer came during two off-days for the Sixers. Though it’s not the same as logging heavy NBA minutes, Maxey told ESPN it still got him tired.
“It was really fun,” Maxey told NBC on their telecast. “They got me out here sweating. Like I just played a whole quarter. I think I’m going to stick to staying on the court.”
Tyrese Maxey might see NBA parallels in his dog work
Maxey had trouble with his first dog, who seemed more interested in his toy than the course. That might not be unlike Maxey’s early career, where he had to fight veterans like James Harden and Embiid for the ball, resulting in some offensive tug-of-wars.
