Tyrese Maxey

Instead, he was selected 21st overall by the Philadelphia 76ers, in one of the first decisions that Daryl Morey made as the team's president of basketball operations.

Tyrese Kendrid Maxey (born November 4, 2000), nicknamed “The Franchise”, is an American professional basketball player for the Philadelphia 76ers of the National Basketball Association (NBA).

He previously played college basketball for the Kentucky Wildcats.

Maxey was born on November 4, 2000, in Dallas, Texas, to Denyse and Tyrone Maxey.

His father had been a college basketball player for the Washington State Cougars under head coach Kelvin Sampson before turning to coaching himself.

Maxey's favorite childhood basketball player was Dwyane Wade, and when he told his father that he wanted to be like Wade, Tyrone created a training regimen for his son inspired by his video analysis of NBA players Stephen Curry and Kyrie Irving.

In sixth grade, Maxey won a national championship with his Amateur Athletic Association (AAU) team.

He had previously broken his pinky finger during the AAU city championship in Garland, Texas, but chose to complete the game by only dribbling with his non-injured hand.

At South Garland High School, Maxey was a shooting guard for the Colonels basketball team.

During his sophomore year, he averaged 22.5 points, 5.5 rebounds, 3.6 assists, and 2.5 steals per game.

The following season, Maxey averaged 22.5 points, 7 rebounds, 3.1 assists, and 2.3 steals per game, and South Garland made its first ever Texas state basketball tournament appearance.

He scored 46 points in the state championship semifinals, but the team nevertheless lost to Obra D. Tompkins High School in overtime.

By his senior year, he was ranked 10th overall by Rivals.com and 247Sports, and 13th overall by ESPN.

Born in Dallas, Texas, Maxey was a shooting guard for South Garland High School, helping the team to their first-ever Texas state high school basketball tournament appearance in 2018.

A five-star recruit as early as his sophomore year of high school, Maxey contemplated leaving high school early to play for the Kentucky Wildcats, but ultimately stayed at South Garland, where he was a McDonald's All-American and Texas Mr. Basketball during his senior year.

He then played for the Wildcats, where he would set a school record of 26 points in his collegiate debut.

He contemplated leaving high school early after the 2018 season in order to enter the NBA sooner, but ultimately decided to finish his four-year South Garland career in the hopes of becoming a McDonald's All-American.

He finished his high school basketball career averaging 21.8 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game as a senior.

In addition to graduating at the top of his class, Maxey was named First-Team All-Area, a McDonald's All-American, and was crowned Texas Mr. Basketball.

He entertained offers from a number of college basketball programs, including Michigan State, the University of California, Los Angeles, and Southern Methodist University, but made an oral commitment to the University of Kentucky in May 2018, just before his senior year of high school.

Maxey signed a National Letter of Intent with Kentucky that November.

Maxey made his college debut at Madison Square Garden for Kentucky's Champions Classic win over the Michigan State Spartans.

South Garland reached the 2019 Texas 6A Region II tournament finals, where despite 25 points from Maxey, they lost 64–53 to Klein Forest High School.

Maxey was considered a five-star recruit as early as his sophomore year of high school, at the end of which Rivals.com ranked him No. 14 in the country among high school basketball prospects.

Playing the day after his 19th birthday, Maxey came off the bench to score 26 points, a school record for a freshman debut, in the Wildcats' 69–62 victory.

This outing was followed by a cold streak during which he only went 3-for-15 on three pointers across four games.

The stretch was broken on November 23, when he scored 21 points, including four three-pointers, in an 81–56 rout of the Lamar Cardinals.

After scoring 27 points and recording seven rebounds in a 78–70 overtime win over the Louisville Cardinals on December 28, Maxey was named the NCAA Division I National Player of the Week, the Southeastern Conference (SEC) Freshman of the Week, and the United States Basketball Writers Association Wayman Tisdale Freshman of the Week.

After Maxey's freshman season at Kentucky was interrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, he elected to enter the 2020 NBA draft, where the 76ers selected him 21st overall with their first-round pick.

Maxey received limited playing time during his rookie season, making his first NBA start in a game where the 76ers could only field the league's minimum number of players.

However, Ben Simmons's refusal to play for the 76ers the following season gave Maxey an opportunity to become the team's starting point guard.

On February 29, 2020, Kentucky clinched the SEC regular season championship with a 73–66 victory over the Auburn Tigers, during which Maxey scored 17 points.

In clinching the regular season title, the Wildcats were meant to enter the 2020 SEC men's basketball tournament as the number one seed, but two weeks later, both the SEC Tournament and the 2020 NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament were canceled due to concerns over the emergent COVID-19 pandemic, bringing a premature end to Maxey's freshman season.

Appearing in 31 games for Kentucky, including 28 starts, Maxey averaged 14 points, 4.3 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game while leading the team with 34.5 minutes per contest.

At the end of the season, he was named to both the All-SEC Second Team and the SEC All-Freshman Team.

On April 6, 2020, shortly after the COVID-19 pause, Maxey declared for the 2020 NBA draft as his teammates Nick Richards and Immanuel Quickley.

Originally anticipated to be a lottery pick, Maxey remained available late in the first round of the 2020 NBA draft.

Maxey signed his rookie scale contract with the team on December 3, 2020.

After collecting 8 and 11 points with limited minutes during two preseason games, head coach Doc Rivers decided that Maxey would be "one of our main bench guys" going into the season.

He made his NBA debut on December 23, the first game of the season, and recorded six points on a 3-for-6 shooting rate, two assists, and two rebounds in eleven minutes of the 76ers' game against the Washington Wizards.