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• Updated May 26, 2026 at 9:48pm

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The New Orleans Pelicans were one of many teams to miss out on selecting All-Star guard Tyrese Maxey in the 2020 NBA Draft, but they had a strange reasoning behind it. NBA super agent Rich Paul shared some inside details behind why he heard that Maxey wasn’t on their radar. New Orleans ended up picking draft bust Kira Lewis Jr. over Maxey with the 13th overall pick and allowed him to fall deeper to the Philadelphia 76ers.

Paul said the following on his podcast about analytics impacting the decision that caused them to miss out on a star guard:

“The reason I don’t like analytics. When Tyrese Maxey was coming out, I hate to tell you this, I begged the Pelicans. They were one of the first teams I allowed in the gym to see Maxey. I’m telling them, they had the 13th pick.

But they said, ‘He don’t really shoot the three that well.’ What tape are you watching? What type of threes is he shooting? Is it a grenade? I just saw this guy saw 25 threes in a row, you saw what I saw. Analytics don’t tell you what kind of heart you have in key moments of the game to make a wide-open shot.”

Pelicans’ personnel flat out told Paul that Maxey not having a good three-point shot in college is why they had no interest in drafting him. Maxey ended up improving his shooting and perfected his strengths to become a superstar. New Orleans would have loved to have Maxey with Zion Williamson and Trey Murphy over the past few years.

Rich Paul Begged Pelicans To Draft Maxey

Another interesting aspect of this story is that Paul strongly wanted the Pelicans to draft Maxey and make him their point guard for the future. The timeline saw New Orleans looking to add talent to the duo of Williamson and Brandon Ingram to compete in 2020.

Unfortunately, the Pelicans made a terrible mistake and drafted a player that the average NBA fan couldn’t name today. Meanwhile, Maxey had a career season and appears to be the current face of the 76ers franchise ahead of Joel Embiid.

Paul’s point is that analytics have gone too far in the NBA and teams invalidate other important qualities. Many players entering the league need time to develop and become good three-point shooters after struggling in college or international play.

Tyrese Maxey Made Many Teams Look Bad

New Orleans was the team named here, but Maxey dropped all the way to 21^st in the NBA Draft. Teams like the Orlando Magic, Dallas Mavericks, and the Miami Heat let Maxey get past them in favor of their own disappointing picks.

Maxey didn’t fit the mold that the NBA was shifting towards as a smaller guard known for iso plays and lackluster three-point shooting entering the league. However, a strong work ethic and training with an NBA team made him improve quickly.

Philadelphia now views Maxey and rookie guard VJ Edgecombe as their backcourt of the future. Most teams in the league would love to offer Maxey a contract if he was a free agent, but he’s remained loved by the 76ers franchise.