The downside of being surrounded by infinitely better rivals.

Max is the token nice guy of the Bladebreakers, a little too nice, I've always struggled to see Max as anything more than just making up numbers, Kuwabara of Yu Yu Hakusho comes to mind as a comparison.
I would say he brings knowledge with his Mom being a BBA researcher and his Dad being a hobby store owner but Kenny fills in for a lot of the technicals, so yeah Max isn't left with much.
Tyson has plot armour.
Kai has rival armour.
Ray has heritage armour.
Kenny has exposition armour.
Even Daichi has Scrappy-Doo armour.
Max at best is the heart of the team, at worst he's the best friend character with above average skills, even paired with Rick in G Revolution, he was so out of place next to someone who is twice his size that you forget that he's a main character.