As a clock ticked towards zero in Milwaukee, an animated but exhausted Tyrese Maxey made his way toward AJ Green. One hand stretched to shake with the Milwaukee Bucks guard after a terrific basketball game. The other hand reached for the basketball itself.

That’s going home with Maxey.

The Philadelphia 76ers guard scored a career-high 54 points to lead the Sixers to a 123-114 overtime win over Milwaukee on Thursday night. That was just part of the story.

Maxey did this on the second of two back-to-back games, his third game in the last four nights. He did this without coming out of the game for the final 29 minutes after halftime. He did this, leading a shorthanded team that trailed for most of the second half.

ABSOLUTELY DOMINANT NIGHT FOR TYRESE MAXEY.

🔥 54 points (career high)
🔥 9 assists, 3 steals, 3 blocks
🔥 powers Sixers OT win

The 7th player to record 50 points, 3 steals and 3 blocks since 1973-74! pic.twitter.com/VVJZGx0btV

— NBA (@NBA) November 21, 2025

The 25-year-old shot 18-of-30 from the field, including six 3-pointers, and tallied 16 points in the fourth quarter. From the free-throw line, Maxey made 12-of-14 shots. It’s been evident that he’s taking a star — maybe even a superstar — leap. He’s now third in the league in scoring, and Thursday night’s performance will push him over a 32 points per game average for the season.

Only two players in Sixers history have scored at least 50 points and handed out at least 9 assists in the same game: Maxey and Wilt Chamberlain. The latter accomplished his feat against the Los Angeles Lakers in 1968.

At this point, it’s fair to ask if Maxey is having the best year among guards in the Eastern Conference. It’s fair to ask whether he’s vaulting himself into early MVP talks, even if he isn’t a frontrunner. He could make his first All-Star Game as a starter. His play has put all of those accolades on the table.

Each season, seemingly, someone in the NBA takes a significant leap. Maxey seems to be the Eastern Conference player who has vaulted himself into new conversations this year, and he gave us yet another reason to talk about him.