Summary
Maxey was a high-level prospect coming out of high school, and it wasn't a surprise that he ended up being a one-and-done out of Kentucky. He had some late lottery buzz but ultimately fell to the 21st pick of the 2020 draft, which was a steal considering how productive Maxey has been. He has become a legitimate scorer, averaging over 20 points per game as a 22 year old in '22-'23. He also did so on pretty good efficiency, posting a true shooting just above 60% in '22-'23. Maxey took another huge leap in '23-'24, scoring nearly 26 points per game and looking like a legitimate All-Star and All-NBA candidate. He had some monster playoff performances, including a couple memorable shots to force overtime in Game 5 against the Knicks to extend the series.

Maxey has become a dangerous outside shooter, hitting 41% from 3 over the last three seasons, and on good volume. Those aren't just coming on open spot-up attempts either, as he can create for himself off-the-dribble and will take stepback or pullup 3-pointers. He's more of a straight-line driver than someone with a bunch of moves in his bag, but he uses his elite quickness to get to the rim. He's not super explosive vertically, and is generally a below the rim finisher, but he's strong enough to finish through contact. Maxey also has nice touch on floaters, hitting 43% of his attempts for his career, according to Cleaning the Glass. 

Maxey has also improved his playmaking, making him more viable as a lead creator. He's not a high level passer yet, as his assist rate is pretty low for a combo guard, and would be even lower for a point guard, but has improved significantly thus far in '23-'24. Maxey can make the open read when it's in front of him, but he's not someone that manipulates the defense with his ability to pass quite yet.

Defensively, Maxey is undersized but has decent length. He competes on that end, working to stay in front of ballhandlers and to fight over screens. He isn't very disruptive, posting low steal rates throughout his career thus far. While generally does enough to survive on that end, he isn't hugely positive and being undersized hurts his ability to switch and guard bigger forwards.

Maxey has 3-level scoring ability, and has shown enough All-NBA potential at 23 years old to likely get a max contract this summer.
 
Cap Considerations
Maxey will be a restricted free agent with a $13 million cap hold, $8.5 million Qualifying Offer, and full Bird Rights. I wouldn't expect Maxey's QO to come into play, as he will likely sign a large contract with the 76ers or a large offer sheet elsewhere.

If a player has a smaller cap hold than his starting salary, his team can use cap space to sign-free agents before using Bird Rights to re-sign its own free agents. If the 76ers operate under the cap, they will be able to take advantage of this rule.

Depending on how close the 76ers are to the luxury tax after free agency, if Maxey is brought back by the 76ers on a multi-year contract they could benefit from frontloading his contract, as it could give them additional flexibility in the future. However, since Maxey will likely be demanding a max contract, it's unlikely he would agree to a frontloaded contract.

From other teams, Maxey will be looking for a 4-year, $152 million max offer. In addition, the team signing him to an offer sheet adding a 15% trade bonus, a player option, and some advances on his salary could make it more difficult for Philadelphia to match. However, the 76ers are almost certain to match any offer he gets. Since Maxey will gets offers above the full MLE, only teams with cap space will be able to sign him, unless a sign-and-trade occurs, which would be complicated by base-year compensation rules.