Tyrese Maxey playing this well is not surprising. The Philadelphia 76ers star has been balling since arriving in the NBA in 2020. He made the All-Star last year for the first time as a reserve. A starting spot might be there soon according to the first turn out of All-Star fan votes.
The Australian guard placed second among all Eastern Conference players with 1,072,000 fan votes next to Giannis Antetokounmpo of the Milwaukee Bucks. He is no. 1 among all guards.
Luka Dončić and Giannis Antetokounmpo lead their conferences in the first fan returns in NBA All-Star Voting 2026.
Fans (50% of the vote) join NBA players (25%) and a media panel (25%) in selecting five players in each conference honored as starters.
Next fan update: 1/6. pic.twitter.com/pHykl9yhTE
— NBA Communications (@NBAPR) December 29, 2025
Maxey thought the recognition from fans of his game is only growing but his work never let down. However, winning is his main goal.
“I think my talent level has been shown in NBA,” Maxey told reporters.
“I’ve been growing, but for me, it’s winning games, man. That’s what shows a big gap and a big difference and a big impact on your team. When you have that type of impact to help your team win games. That’s all I want to be known for.”
Sixers guard Tyrese Maxey on NBA fans making him the Eastern Conference’s second-leading NBA All-Star vote-getter in first fan returns: pic.twitter.com/0G8bXOvBcJ
— Keith Pompey (@PompeyOnSixers) December 29, 2025
Maxey is an MVP candidate this season and is being regarded as the new franchise player of the 76ers.
Tyrese Maxey wants the starting spot
While Maxey is nonchalant about being no. 2 most popular in the East for the moment, he wants it to stay that way. He wants to become an All-Star starter just like his teammate Joel Embiid who’s done it multiple times.
“It’d be cool. I watched Joel (Embiid) start in the All-Star game before, and it was actually really cool, man, to be out there to watch him,” he said.
“So if I’m blessed with the opportunity, I definitely won’t take it for granted. You just never know how many opportunities you get like that, and hopefully, I’ll get to watch VJ on Friday, so we’ll see.”
The 2026 edition of the showcase will feature a different format. Hard to say right now if he will be a starter although he might get one of the two guard spots. For upcoming games, the NBA adopted the Team USA vs Team World format.
Maxey will represent Australia and he will compete for the starting spot against Luka Doncic who is overall no. 1 in the latest voting and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (878,000 votes). Maxey leads by a landslide against the next international guard Josh Giddey who only has around 115,000 votes.
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