How Tyrese Maxey went from the hardwood to the 2025 National Dog Show

Dressed in all gray with a beanie and glasses, Tyrese Maxey explained that he was out of breath, feeling as if he had just played a full quarter of NBA basketball.

Except, Maxey hadn't bounced any basketballs or attacked the rim. The Philadelphia 76ers star guard instead was directing multiple dogs through the Purina Pro Plan Incredible Dog Challenge Agility Show, a part of the 2025 National Dog Show.

Maxey participated in the agility course in a Nov. 16 show taping in front of roughly 15,000 spectators at the Kennel Club of Philadelphia. He ran two dogs -- Howie and Spike -- through the course, with his performance to air on NBC on Thanksgiving Day. Howie is an 8-year-old border collie, while Spike is a 2-year-old border collie papillion.

"It was really fun. They got me out here sweating. Like I just played a whole quarter. I think I'm going to stick to staying on the court," he said on the NBC broadcast.

The course included two tunnels and weave poles, multiple agility hurdles and a tire for the dogs to jump through. Maxey, who was unavailable for an interview, held a toy and directed Howie and Spike through the obstacles with commands such as "jump," "tunnel" and "weave, weave, weave, weave." Maxey's turn on the course occurred after the breed judging and before the National Dog Show group judging.

Show officials previously reached out to the 76ers to see if any player would be interested in participating, NBC Sports producer Alexa Maremaa told ESPN. Maxey, an NBA All-Star in 2024, has three dogs and had previous experience on a dog agility course.

In 2024, Maxey appeared in a State Farm commercial with the Players Tribune, learning dog training skills from Perry DeWitt and Jessica Ajoux, two professional agility trainers. DeWitt was part of the 2025 dog show, making it a "perfect melding of the worlds," Maremaa said.

The producers wanted Maxey to arrive early for a tour of the space. Similarly, he wanted to look around himself, specifically to find dog breeds such as the cane corsos -- one of the breeds he owns -- and bullmastiffs.

"His face lit up just like when they were walking towards each other like these big old dogs and you know, they're slobbering," Maremaa said. "He ate it up. He's clearly a dog lover."

With the various obstacles and carpets on the course, Maremaa worried that Maxey might injure himself.

"I frankly was afraid that he was going to trip and fall on the carpet," she said. "Like the Sixers were going to have an issue with this. ... You're running alongside a dog, and you're not really looking where you're going, there's a tunnel in your way and like all this stuff."

Agility professionals at the show helped pick which dogs would be best for Tyrese. They settled on a smaller dog that "might yap at him because they thought that might be fun," Maremaa said, and one of the bigger dogs that was low maintenance.

Once the dogs were picked, it was time to begin taping. Maxey asked if he could walk through the course with the pros and practice commands for each section.

"There's only so much you can control with these dogs. ... So, I think doing that dry run with the pros and just making sure he knew, 'OK tunnel here, weave here,' set him up for success," Meramaa said.

It typically takes professionals with their own professional dogs 18 to 21 seconds to run through the course.

Maxey's first run with Howie took 41 seconds after the dog became more interested in a toy than weaving, leading to a mini tug-of-war with Maxey. His second run with Spike -- which Maremaa thought looked "real smooth" -- resulted in a commendable time of 30 seconds.

"We wanted to give him two shots with two different dogs just to see if it would be an improvement or a difference, and the second dog was faster," she said.

Though there were no plans to have Maxey return to an agility course in the future, the affection he displayed for dogs left the door open.

"Any time you can showcase somebody who has that passion," Maremaa said. "It's not a bad thing."