The Philadelphia 76ers have a real star on their hands in Tyrese Maxey. After years of developing from a bench guy to a tertiary scorer to the second option behind Joel Embiid, the Sixers guard has arrived. It came not just through immense dedication but moments throughout his career that helped sharpen his game.

On the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast, Maxey recalled two moments that introduced him to how hard the NBA can be. They both involve former Sixers: Ish Smith and Jrue Holiday.

“My first real game, first regular season game my rookie year, Ish Smith came down right at me,” Maxey said. “And I'm like…You know, let's be real, you talking about Ish Smith? And Ish Smith — hell of a vet, great dude, been in the league a long time, made a lot of money. But if you playing 2K and you a little kid, you don't know Ish Smith is, right?”

Maxey said that then-teammate Mike Scott warned him in the pre-game shootaround that Smith would beat him with a cross-over, a warning to which Maxey replied, “Man, I ain’t worried about none of that.” Smith, then the backup point guard for the Washington Wizards, preceded to cross him out of position and score over him early in the second quarter.

“When I see Ish Smith from there on, now I'm like, ‘let me tie my shoes up.’ Like, let me tie my shoes up a little tight,” Maxey said. The Sixers guard previously mentioned this moment against Smith as a moment that welcomed him to the league.

Assuming the above play is the correct moment— it was one of just two buckets from Smith in that game, with the other being a catch-and-shoot three — Maxey accidentally misremembers that it wasn’t the very first play he was in and that it was a short jumper, not a layup. Nonetheless, it was a smooth move from the veteran guard that showed Maxey how tough it is to guard professional hoopers.

Jrue Holiday showed Tyrese Maxey how tough NBA defenders can be, even if it was in a game where Maxey showed he could hang. The moment Maxey remembers occurred in his second season, shortly after James Harden's midseason arrival to the Sixers, in a road win over the Milwaukee Bucks.

“I was just going through the motions — like, give the ball to Joel every play, give the ball to Joel every play,” Maxey said. “And, James pulled me aside, like, ‘Bro stop giving the ball to him every play. Like you could give it to him 'cause he's the MVP, yes, but you gotta be aggressive to help him.’”

From there, Maxey went on to score 14 points in the second quarter with Holiday as his main defender. He claimed that he ripped off 16 or 17 straight against Holiday and while that isn’t what happened, he did go on a very impressive scoring run, especially for a second-year player.

Starting with a quick double between-the-legs crossover to throw Holiday off balance before hitting a floater, Maxey used Embiid screens to get right past Holiday to score four field goals and also used his speed in the open floor to draw a shooting foul. The Sixers went on to win 123-120 with Maxey otherwise shooting poorly from the field but contributing 10 points from the foul line.

“And Jrue pulled me to the side after the halftime — we ended up winning the game. He pulled me to the side,” Maxey recalled. “He said, ‘You cold. But I can't let you get more than 10 points this half, man.’”

Maxey indeed scored just three points, all from the foul line, while shooting 0-6 from the field in the second half. He said that Holiday is one of the best defenders in the league and that he likes going at him because “I wanna show, man, [that] I can hoop, too.”

There’s no denying that Tyrese Maxey can definitely hoop with the best of them. The Sixers star is now the one showing others how tough the NBA is and should receive his first All-Star nomination this season.