BOSTON — Not many folks are having better offseasons than Philadelphia 76ers star Tyrese Maxey. After debuting his signature shoe last postseason, Maxey and New Balance are officially set to release the Maxey V1's on October 2nd. Oh, and Maxey's Philadelphia 76ers also landed LeBron James and Jaylen Brown in free agency, elevating them to serious championship contention.
Maxey joined New Balance back in early 2023, and the two sides have been working in partnership on a signature shoe for the Sixers star that is now ready to launch.
Tyrese Maxey recently attended New Balance's Beantown Elite Experience, the brand's elite high school basketball camp featuring the top boys and girls players in the country. Joined by fellow New Balance athletes and NBA stars Darius Garland, Dejounte Murray, and Zach LaVine, Maxey helped coach the kids on the basketball court as well as off-the-court with advice on how to handle basketball, finances, media, and more.
Before he took the court with the boys and girls, Maxey gifted every single camper a pair of his unreleased New Balance Maxey V1's to wear and play in. The kids immediately rummaged through the pile of boxes looking for their names to quickly put on their new shoes.
“Giving it out to the campers and seeing them put them on and be excited about them that was amazing to me,” Tyrese Maxey told ClutchPoints. “That was the dream come true. My mom was here and she's been there for all of the accomplishments, all of the hard things that I've had to go through. But she said that was one of the brightest days of her life and her supporting me, was seeing me smile with other people smiling. That was really cool so I was happy about that.”
Maxey sat down exclusively with ClutchPoints for an in-depth interview about his relationship with New Balance, the Maxey V1's, recruiting LeBron James to the Philadelphia 76ers, and how he plans to follow up his career-year in 2025-26.
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Tomer Azarly: Here with Tyrese Maxey and the high school campers at The Track for the New Balance's Beantown Elite Experience. Before we get into unveiling your first signature shoe, the New Balance Maxey V1's, what's the partnership and relationship with New Balance been like and how is it continuing to develop from where it started to now?
Tyrese Maxey: Oh, it's a great partnership. I'm blessed to be with New Balance. I think the biggest thing is it's a family kind of brand company. Not just with myself, but like the entire company. They've been partners. It's not just someone where like, ‘oh yeah, they pay me, it's a brand, woot woot.' No, we've been partners and they've done a lot of things to help me with things I might do in the community and I try to help them as much as possible to push New Balance because I love New Balance.
Tomer Azarly: Partner was an important word that you guys mentioned to the campers when we talked with Rich Paul and you just mentioned it again here. What has that been like, being a partner with a brand who comes out and supports you as much as they do?
Tyrese Maxey: When I say partners, it's because they come support me not only at my games, but they come support me at my camps, they come support me at turkey drives, all those type of things. They have input in all those things and then myself, as a brand, I'm always going to push New Balance. If you see my entire family, anybody who's with me at any time, they're always going to have on New Balance, no matter what. It's no negotiation and it's a great partnership. Like I said, it's really cool that we can bounce ideas off of each other and then at the end of the day, break bread and fellowship.
Tomer Azarly: Let's unbox the Maxey V1's and reveal the shoes to us.
Tyrese Maxey: Here we go. These are the Maxey V1's. Very, very, very, very special to me. Nice silhouette. I feel like they're historic. I talk about New Balance all the time. New Balance is a very historic company. Very culture-heavy company. Being in Philadelphia these past seven years, I feel like I'm a part of New Balance because I think it's an East Coast thing. And now, it's become a global thing, which is really cool. So, these are the Maxey V1's. Very light, very clean. You can wear them on the court, off the court, and if you're wearing them on the court, make sure you get some buckets or I will find out.
Tomer Azarly: Talk me through the design process and how everything came together for it to be what you wanted it to be?
Tyrese Maxey: So I was big on and I wanted the shoe to resemble a New Balance shoe without seeing the logo. You know what I'm saying? So, if you can see the shoe, you know it's New Balance. Like, if you see the front of the shoe, it kind of resembles like the 9060s, or if someone has pants on, you can say, ‘oh, I know what those shoes are,' or, ‘Oh, those are the Maxey's. Those are New Balances.' You know what I'm saying? I wanted that to be kind of a thing and I feel like we were able to accomplish that, to wear them on the court and you can wear them off the court and that's like the biggest thing that I'm excited about.
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Tomer Azarly: How long did everything take to come together from beginning to now?
Tyrese Maxey: I think it took around like 18 months or something like that. But it's a good 18 months, a process. We started with nothing, you know what I mean? Which is really cool for me. I wanted to be a part of that process. I didn't want to just be hands off and just slap my name on it and just go with the flow. I wanted to really be a part of it. I wanted to be hands on. I wanted to have input on it, which New Balance allowed me to do so. So that was really cool as well.
Tomer Azarly: Which part of the shoe means the most to you? Was it the initial presentation when they told you you were going to have a signature? Was it when you saw the final product? Maybe wearing them for the first time or giving them out to the campers?
Tyrese Maxey: Wow. I think one, giving it out to the campers and seeing them put them on and be excited about them that was amazing to me, you know what I'm saying? That was the dream come true. My mom was here and she's been there for all of the accomplishments, all of the hard things that I've had to go through. But she said that was one of the brightest days of her life and her supporting me, was seeing me smile with other people smiling. That was really cool so I was happy about that.
Article Continues BelowTomer Azarly: What role are you playing here with the Beantown Elite Experience? Why is it important for you to impart your knowledge, your wisdom and not only just be here, but also take part in drills with them and showing them the small things?
Tyrese Maxey: For me, I was in their shoes because I was in the same type of situation as them. Top 100 camps, all those different things and I was, not scared, but I was timid and wouldn't talk to the NBA players there or the people that were higher up at the time and for me, I just wanted to make sure that I'm hands on and that's ultimately what I'm there for. I told them, ask me anything, I don't care what it is. If you think it's a good question or if you think it's a bad question, there are no bad questions, so ask me anything and I'm just here to help. I want them to be successful. I was messing with some of the guys, I was saying, hey, ‘in three to four years I want you all to be on the NBA court with me and I'm cooking you y'all in my Maxey V4's or Maxey V5's. And I said to some of the young ladies, ‘I can't wait to pull up to some of your games in the W or in college and y'all wearing them. You know what I'm saying? It's really cool and I can say like, ‘hey, I coached that kid at camp.'
Tomer Azarly: You had a career year this year with points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocks. Across the board in year six. How did Tyrese Maxey do that and how does Tyrese Maxey take his game to the next level?
Tyrese Maxey: Yeah, that Tyrese Maxey guy, I think he's pretty dedicated.
Tomer Azarly: It sure seems like it.
Tyrese Maxey: Yeah! Well, my biggest thing was I wanted to get better and better every single year, every single day. And I've tried to do that. I've really, really tried to work extremely hard to do that and I want to just be the best I could possibly be for my organization. They believed in me. They gave me an opportunity. I was blessed and they drafted me early, with the 21st pick, and I just told them from day one they wouldn't regret it. I'll make sure of it and I've tried my best to make sure of that.
Tomer Azarly: The Philadelphia 76ers have a big opportunity ahead, a real championship-potential team here. How are you viewing that and approaching that with five legitimate star level players and a strong bench as well?
Tyrese Maxey: Yeah. We haven't gotten on the court yet, so we'll see. But as far as the chemistry off the court, guys are communicating, guys are having a good time doing it, guys are really pumping each other up, and guys are also willing to sacrifice. It's just what they've said. So when we step on the court, we have to kind of embody all those things that we've been talking about, sacrificing, coming together as one, and going out there competing every single night. Those are the three things that we really have to focus on. It's going to be one day at a time. One day at a time, one step at a time. There's going to be some good days, there's going to be some bad days, but at the end of the day we always want to be stepping in the right direction to come playoff time.
Tomer Azarly: Everyone was on ‘LeBron Watch' this summer. What role did you play in recruiting him? VJ Edgecombe said at one point that you may have known but weren't telling anyone. Is that true? What role did you play in getting LeBron to Philly?
Tyrese Maxey: I'm not going to say I knew and just didn't tell anyone, but I had multiple conversations with LeBron. Again, I work out with LeBron early in the morning, and that's just off of being cool with him. It's funny, he's like a big brother, like an OG to me, and for us to be teammates, it was funny because a kid asked me the other day, he looked at me and said, ‘are you and LeBron friends?' I thought about it. I leaned back and I said, ‘you know, I guess we are friends. He's the old, old, old guy, but he's like one of my old friends.' It's funny because we are teammates now, co-workers, but it's kind of like a big brother situation. It's going to be very cool and interesting dynamic.
Tomer Azarly: I remember last year when we talked, you were saying teammates were calling you ‘Unc—'
Tyrese Maxey: Yeah, that's ridiculous.
Tomer Azarly: Now you have LeBron on the team to call ‘Unc,' right?
Tyrese Maxey: Yeah, they shouldn't be calling me ‘Unc.' I'm the second youngest in our projected starting lineup. I'm still only 25 years old, so I got about four or five more years until they can call me that.