Tyrese Maxey has wasted no time making his point to Dean Wade in Sixers camp: let it fly.
That message has come through clearly in the first few practices in Camden, where Maxey has been pressing the 6-foot-9 forward to keep firing from outside. Wade said Wednesday that it’s not exactly unfamiliar territory for him.
“I've been told that a lot in my career,” he told reporters Wednesday.
Maxey, though, has been especially direct about what he wants from his new teammate.
“I’m going to be on him this year about shooting the ball,” Maxey said. “I want him to shoot a lot of threes.”
Wade took it with a grin.
“He's been on me a few times already,” Wade said with a smile.
The push makes sense for a player whose game has long been built around spacing the floor. Wade has hit 36.7 percent of his career three-point tries, averaging 3.2 attempts per game and 7.9 per 100 possessions. Last season, more than 70 percent of his shots came from deep, and on a Cavaliers roster full of ball-dominant players, he had the lowest usage rate of any Cleveland player in 2025-26.
That profile should carry over to Philadelphia, where the Sixers again have plenty of star facilitators who will need room to operate. Wade’s value is tied to what he does without the ball, using his shooting gravity to open space for everyone else.
He has been especially effective as a catch-and-shoot option. A staggering 93.4 percent of his three-point attempts last season came on the catch, and he knocked down 37.2 percent of those looks. If he isn’t willing to pull the trigger, that part of his game loses some of its punch.
“You’ll never be more open than open. Sometimes … I think the defense is going to rotate and they don’t,” he said.
“That’s the biggest thing. I’ve got to shoot the ball.
… That’s what [the Sixers] need me to do, is to shoot the ball when I’m open and play defense.”
Maxey has already noticed the rest of Wade’s game showing up early, too. In his view, Wade can fit a role without needing the ball to be effective.
“He’s somebody who knows how to play a role and he knows how to star in his role, too,” Maxey said. “I think he’s really going to help us on the defensive glass - defensively, period - and then creating space and cutting.”
That defensive value has been a big part of Wade’s climb. He’s disruptive, versatile, and active, with a 6-foot-10 wingspan that helps him fill passing lanes and contest different types of matchups. Since entering the league as an undrafted player on a two-way contract, he has built his reputation by leaning all the way into that side of the floor.
At one point, Cleveland coaches Chris Darnell and Josh Broghamer sat him down and made the message plain.
“Every team has a scorer and a shooter,” Wade recalled hearing. “Every team’s got somebody that can create.
Not every team has a defender. You move good enough laterally, that’s where you can stick in this league.”
Wade said he “dove in headfirst” after that, and the payoff eventually followed. He is now on a four-year, $38.7 million deal with the Sixers.
For all the certainty around his defense, Wade knows the shooting part will settle in with time. He expects the rhythm to come as the group gets more reps together.
“It’ll come along,” he said. “When you get in the flow of games a little more, repetition, time with each other, you kind of see where you fit in and that’ll help a lot.”
And if the shots don’t come fast enough, Maxey sounds ready to keep applying the pressure.
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