Greetings, welcome to the Forums.
Leaves develop at the tip of elongating branches on Maple (Acer) and most other trees. They do not come out later after the branch elongates. In your pphots there are bits of petiole (leaf stems) left on on the branches.
I'm not certain what defoliated the branch tips on the maple but it is not normal growth.
Perhaps there is or was an infestation of caterpillars that preferred the new growth? A late frost damaging new growth is another possibility. There is also a vary loosely defined syndrome called Maple Decline that involves tip dieback as one of its symptoms.