RealGM Basketball Wiretap

24 April 2024

• Tyrese Maxey Named 23-24 NBA Most Improved Player

  Tyrese Maxey has been named the NBA's Most Improved Player for the 23-24 season.

  Maxey's scoring rose for the third consecutive year, and he finished the regular season averaging 25.9 points, 6.2 assists, 3.7 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.

  "It feels great," Maxey said on the TNT broadcast where the award was announced. "Somebody like myself, who prides myself on putting in a lot of work and outworking people and finding ways to get 1% better every single time I step in the gym, it feels good for that to come to light, honestly."

  Maxey received just over half of the first-place votes.

  Coby White finished second while Alperen Sengun was voted third.

  The rest of the voting: Oklahoma City's Jalen Williams was fourth, Jalen Brunson was fifth, Washington's Deni Avdija sixth, Brooklyn's Cam Thomas seventh, Orlando's Jalen Suggs eighth, Indiana's Tyrese Haliburton ninth, Phoenix's Grayson Allen and Miami's Duncan Robinson tied for 10th, San Antonio's Devin Vassell and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander tied for 12th, and Indiana's Aaron Nesmith was 14th.

• Joel Embiid: We're Going To Win This Series, We Are The Better Team

  The Philadelphia 76ers trail the New York Knicks 0-2 in their first round series after losing two close games at Madison Square Garden, but Joel Embiid remains optimistic his team can win four out of the next five games.

  "We're good," Embiid said. "We're going to win this series.

  "We are going to win this. We know what we got to fix. We did a better job today, so we are going to fix it.

  "We are the better team. We are going to keep fighting."

  Embiid had 34 points, 10 rebounds and six assists in the game.

• Sixers Plan To File Grievance With NBA Over Officiating In First Two Games At Knicks

  The Philadelphia 76ers plan to file a grievance with the NBA over the officiating across the first two games of their first round series against the New York Knicks, according to ESPN's Tim Bontemps.

  The Sixers trail New York 0-2 after the first two games.

  New York was trailing Philadelphia by five points with less than 30 seconds remaining in the game when Jalen Brunson bounced in a three-pointer. Josh Hart then stole the ball from Tyrese Maxey with ball eventually finding its way to Donte DiVincenzo who missed a three-pointer, but Isaiah Hartenstein collected the offensive rebound, passed it to OG Anuonby who then found DiVincenzo for a three-pointer to go up by one.

  Nick Nurse claimed he was trying to call timeout before Maxey had the ball stolen to begin the sequence.

  Joel Embiid described the officiating at the end of the game as "[expletive] unacceptable."

• Tyrese Maxey Questionable For Game 2 With Illness

  Tyrese Maxey missed Monday's shootaround with the Philadelphia 76ers ahead of Game 2 due to an illness and is listed as questionable.

  Maxey had 33 points in 44 minutes in Philadelphia's Game 1 loss.

  Maxey was the only player missing from shootaround.

  Joel Embiid is also questionable due to left knee injury recovery.

• 2023-24 Most Improved Player Finalists Announced

  The NBA announced the finalists for 2023-24 Most Improved Player. The finalists are Tyrese Maxey of the Philadelphia 76ers, Alperen Sengun of the Houston Rockets and Coby White of the Chicago Bulls.

  Maxey improved from 20.3 points and 3.5 assists per game to 25.9 points and 6.2 assists per game. Maxey also made his first All-Star team. In addition, the fourth-year guard took on an increased role for the Sixers following the James Harden trade and with Joel Embiid missing time due to injuries.

  Sengun helped the Rockets improve from 22 wins last season to 41 wins this season. Sengun improved from 14.8 points, 9.0 rebounds and 3.9 assists in his second season to 21.1 points, 9.3 rebounds and 5.0 assists as a third-year player.

  Coby White reclaimed his starting spot for the Bulls. After dipping to 9.7 points, 2.9 rebounds and 2.8 assists last season, White improved to 19.1 points, 4.5 rebounds and 5.1 assists this season.

• Sixers Not Considering Shutting Down Joel Embiid

  Joel Embiid briefly left the Philadelphia 76ers Game 1 loss to the New York Knicks before halftime with another left knee injury scare. Embiid landed awkwardly after a dunk and fell to the ground, while grabbing at his left knee. He eventually limped off to the locker room.

  Embiid returned to play in the second half. He didn't have any more major issues with the knee, but the moments where Embiid does look hurt are enough to question if he should be playing.

  Philadelphia head coach Nick Nurse said the team isn't considering shutting Embiid down for the season. Nurse said, "I don't think so" when asked if there is any thought to making Embiid sit due to the repeated injury scares. Nurse said Embiid wants to play and to play through any issues he has with his left knee.

• Tobias Harris Expected To Receive Interest From Pistons

  The Detroit Pistons could pursue Tobias Harris in free agency, sources tell Keith Pompey of the Philadelphia Inquirer. The Pistons are attempting to accelerate their rebuild and could use a veteran presence on the wing.

  Harris is coming off a five-year, $180 million contract with the Philadelphia 76ers.

  Pompey also writes that "Harris may be as good as gone" from the Sixers this offseason.

  Harris was traded by the Orlando Magic to the Pistons in 2016 shortly after signing a four-year, $64 million deal. Harris was subsequently part of a 2018 trade to the Los Angeles Clippers for Blake Griffin. Harris was traded in 2019 to the Sixers.

• RealGM Radio: Seth Partnow On The Playoffs (Apr 2024)

  Host Danny Leroux and Seth Partnow of The Athletic preview the NBA playoffs.

  They break down which series they are most excited for, which are the toughest to call, key match-ups and much more.

  Subscribe to RealGM Radio on Apple Podcasts or via the RSS feed.

• Heat-Sixers Play-In Tournament Game Averages 3.4M Viewers

  Wednesday night's Play-In Tournament games averaged 3.25 million viewers across ESPN and ESPN2.

  The number is a 25% increase from last year.

  The Sixers' win over the Heat averaged 3.4 million viewers, with the Hawks-Bulls nightcap averaged 3.07 million viewers.

  Tuesday night's Warriors-Kings game averaged 4.05 million viewers.

• NBA Playoffs 2024: Eastern Conference First Round Matchups

  The Eastern Conference seeds are set following the end of regular season on Sunday. The first round begins on Saturday, April 20th.

  First Round Matchups

  • No. 1 Boston Celtics vs. No. 8 (Sixers, Heat, Bulls or Hawks)

  • No. 2 New York Knicks vs. No. 7 (Sixers or Heat)

  • No. 3 Milwaukee Bucks vs. No. 6 Indiana Pacers

  • No. 4 Cleveland Cavaliers vs. No. 5 Orlando Magic

  Play-In

  • No. 7 Philadelphia 76ers vs. No. 8 Miami Heat

  • No. 9 Chicago Bulls vs. No. 10 Atlanta Hawks