The 50 greatest NBA players of the 2020s (so far), ranked

26) Tyrese Maxey

Guard Tyrese Maxey of the Philadelphia 76ers is one of the youngest players on this list, at 23 years old. With all four of his seasons occurring in the 2020s, he has enough of a resume to be included, even despite averaging only 8 points per game as a rookie.

After all, he has improved by leaps and bounds in the last three seasons, with him seeing his scoring jump by nearly 10 points to 17.5 points in year two, to 20.3 points in year three and to a career-high 25.9 points per game in year four. His 2023–24 season resulted in him winning Most Improved Player and making his first of what could be many all-star appearances. After all, he is one of the best shooters in the NBA, draining 39.6% of his 5.1 3-point attempts per game and he is one of the quicker guards in the NBA.

Pair him with superstar Joel Embiid, and now nine-time all-star Paul George and Maxey could continue to improve over the back half of the decade. That would dramatically improve his standing here, with him doing enough to make the cut but not quite enough in his short career to rank higher than 26th, at least yet.