Silver maples have a very strong tendency not to grow with a central leader. A typical silver maple will divide fairly low down into 3 to 5 large ascending branches. Occasionally silver maples will grow one trunk up to 15 feet or more, but this is not typical.

I have never done it with a silver maple, but you could try to prune the tree to grow with one main trunk up to 10 or 15 feet without too much trouble. If the strongest trunk/ascending branch is leaning a bit, it may not be a big problem. If you prune off the others, the one you leave will straighten up somewhat. It will probably want to divide into large ascending branches again, and you can prune it again to maintain the central trunk.

But, personally, I would let the tree grow as it wishes, unless one or two of the lower branches are growing outward at angles that would make them a nuisance later. A silver maple with the typical form of dividing into large ascending branches fairly close to the ground (4 to 7 feet)can be quite attractive. But you do need a lot of space for these trees, and they are best away from a house where their special form and foliage can be best appreciated. They can break and shed limbs more than some other trees, so they are not the best tree for close to a house.

--Spruce

Leaves look more like Red maple than Silver. If you could lay out some leaves or a twig w/leaves flat on a background, or just a close-up, it would help.

Whatever the case, be careful about cutting -- you could do more harm than good. If you must, you might limit the "branch collar" (where multiple branches emerge at the same point) to 2 limbs. In your case, eliminating the branches from the center.

Don't worry about the leaning -- the tree will quickly balance out.

That Silver Maple is appears to be planted entirely too close to the house on the other side of the fence. In 10 to 15 years this maple will be so big that the cost to have it removed could be as much as $2,000.00. Many people would refuse to pay that kind of money, even if the tree is dropping lots of branches and way too many winged seedlings. Silver maple seedlings abundantly sprout in landscaping beds, and especially well in the rain gutters attached to nearby houses.

I agree that it's a red maple, not silver. This may sound extreme but here's my advice... Wait until about late February and cut it down to the ground. In spring it will send up new sprouts, cut off every one except the best looking one, that will be your new tree with a central leader. It will be easier than trying to work with what you have now. The sprouts grow really fast so it won't take long to be back at the size it is now. Unfortunately many nurseries clip off the central leader to try to make them bushy and to make them easier to move around, this ruins the tree.

The previous poster mentioned the mature size, in the deep south (especially Florida) maples don't get huge like they do further north.