Tyrese Maxey says John Calipari made "basketball different for me."
For most of his life, Tyrese Maxey has been the best player to step on the floor. Basketball always came easy to him. He was a five-star high school recruit and McDonald’s All-American before coming to Kentucky. But the game changed once he went to college for the 2019-20 season. Nothing was given and everything had to be earned.
Fast forward to now and Maxey is playing in his fourth NBA season and is on the brink of making his first All-Star Game appearance. The 23-year-old point guard has shown clear improvement year over year for the Philadelphia 76ers. He was averaging 8.0 points per game as a rookie and is up to nearly 26 points per game this season. Maxey credits his former coach, John Calipari, with helping him reach this point.
Maxey joined the NBA TV set on Tuesday where he was asked by host Candance Parker to explain why former Wildcat guards have — in Parker’s own words — “put the NBA on complete notice.”
“Honestly, I just think Coach Cal does a really good job of pushing us,” Maxey said. “I was telling somebody the other day, for me, he just did a really good job of making basketball different for me. I think basketball growing up, I was blessed to have a lot of opportunities and a lot of love and a lot of different things. So I worked my way to the top and basketball came easy to me.
“When I got to college, he was able to challenge me. He did different things in practice where he challenged me and then in the game he challenged me to be better. I think that is why guys like myself, guys like Jamal (Murray), guys like De’Aaron (Fox), guys like Shai (Gilgeous-Alexander) — the list goes on and on. When they get to the league, they excel because he pushed you in practice and then you have somebody else there pushing you. Shoutout to Quick (Immanuel Quickley), he was the one pushing me. When we get out here, we’re not afraid of anything. We know that we’re going to try and take the moment.”
Maxey is just one of several Kentucky guards who have made major impacts in the NBA after being coached by Calipari. He already mentioned the likes of Murray, Fox, SGA, and Quickley, but don’t forget about Devin Booker, Tyler Herro, Malik Monk, or Cason Wallace. Going back to Calipari’s early years in Lexington, John Wall and Eric Bledsoe would also like a word.
It certainly helps Maxey to have the reigning MVP, Joel Embiid, by his side, but he was not expected to be this good, this fast. This season, Maxey is averaging 25.9 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 6.6 assists (all career-highs) on shooting splits of 45.5/37.4/87.2. Philadelphia currently sits on a 23-12 record, third-best in the Eastern Conference.
If Calipari needed another recruiting pitch, he could just show a five-star high school point guard this clip.
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