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Game state source: whynba · Retrieved Oct 9, 5:36 pm EDTNBA legend. Inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame. Biography, honors and career statistics below.
Maurice Cheeks
Career at a glance
Maurice Cheeks played 15 NBA regular seasons between 1978 and 1993, appearing in 1,101 games and averaging 11.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 6.7 assists per game. He played for 5 teams: Philadelphia (1978–89, 853 games), San Antonio (1989–90, 50 games), New York (1989–91, 107 games), Atlanta (1991–92, 56 games), New Jersey (1992–93, 35 games). His best scoring season was 1986–87 with Philadelphia: 15.6 points per game over 68 games.
Championship season: 1982–83 (Philadelphia). In the playoffs he appeared in 13 postseason runs (133 games, 14.4 points per game). Multiplying each season’s games by its scoring average gives roughly 12,200 regular-season points (an estimate from per-game figures, not an official total).
Among the 404 players with at least 200 NBA games profiled on whynba, Cheeks ranks No. 23 in assists per game.
whynba analysis of the season-by-season statistics below (Wikipedia revision, CC BY-SA 4.0). Totals are estimates from per-game averages.
About Maurice Cheeks
Maurice Edward Cheeks (born September 8, 1956) is an American professional basketball coach and former player who serves as an assistant coach for the New York Knicks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has also served as head coach of the Portland Trail Blazers, Philadelphia 76ers, and Detroit Pistons. Cheeks was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 2018. He was the first player with 2,000 steals solely in the NBA.
- Born
- September 8, 1956 (age 70) Chicago, Illinois, U.S.
- Listed height
- 6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
- Listed weight
- 180 lb (82 kg)
- Position
- Point guard
- High school
- DuSable (Chicago, Illinois)
- College
- West Texas A&M (1974–1978)
- NBA draft
- 1978: 2nd round, 36th overall pick
- Playing career
- 1978–1993
Career highlights and awards
- NBA champion (1983)
- 4× NBA All-Star (1983, 1986–1988)
- 4× NBA All-Defensive First Team (1983–1986)
- NBA All-Defensive Second Team (1987)
- No. 10 retired by Philadelphia 76ers
- 2× First-team All-MVC (1976, 1978)
- Second-team All-MVC (1977)
- NBA champion (2026)
- NBA Cup champion (2025)
Career statistics
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978–79 | Philadelphia | 82 | – | 29.4 | .510 | – | .721 | 3.1 | 5.3 | 2.1 | .1 | 8.4 |
| 1979–80 | Philadelphia | 79 | – | 33.2 | .540 | .444 | .779 | 3.5 | 7.0 | 2.3 | .4 | 11.4 |
| 1980–81 | Philadelphia | 81 | – | 29.8 | .534 | .375 | .787 | 3.0 | 6.9 | 2.4 | .5 | 9.4 |
| 1981–82 | Philadelphia | 79 | 79 | 31.6 | .521 | .273 | .777 | 3.1 | 8.4 | 2.6 | .4 | 11.2 |
| 1982–83† | Philadelphia | 79 | 79 | 31.2 | .542 | .167 | .754 | 2.6 | 6.9 | 2.3 | .4 | 12.5 |
| 1983–84 | Philadelphia | 75 | 75 | 33.3 | .550 | .400 | .733 | 2.7 | 6.4 | 2.3 | .3 | 12.7 |
| 1984–85 | Philadelphia | 78 | 78 | 33.5 | .570 | .231 | .879 | 2.8 | 6.4 | 2.2 | .3 | 13.1 |
| 1985–86 | Philadelphia | 82 | 82 | 39.9 | .537 | .235 | .842 | 2.9 | 9.2 | 2.5 | .3 | 15.4 |
| 1986–87 | Philadelphia | 68 | 68 | 38.6 | .527 | .235 | .777 | 3.2 | 7.9 | 2.6 | .2 | 15.6 |
| 1987–88 | Philadelphia | 79 | 79 | 36.3 | .495 | .136 | .825 | 3.2 | 8.0 | 2.1 | .3 | 13.7 |
| 1988–89 | Philadelphia | 71 | 70 | 32.4 | .483 | .077 | .774 | 2.6 | 7.8 | 1.5 | .2 | 11.6 |
| 1989–90 | San Antonio | 50 | 49 | 35.3 | .478 | .111 | .832 | 3.3 | 6.0 | 1.6 | .1 | 10.9 |
| 1989–90 | New York | 31 | 13 | 24.3 | .579 | .429 | .877 | 2.4 | 4.9 | 1.4 | .2 | 7.9 |
| 1990–91 | New York | 76 | 64 | 28.3 | .499 | .250 | .814 | 2.3 | 5.7 | 1.7 | .1 | 7.8 |
| 1991–92 | Atlanta | 56 | 0 | 19.4 | .462 | .500 | .605 | 1.7 | 3.3 | 1.5 | .0 | 4.6 |
| 1992–93 | New Jersey | 35 | 0 | 14.6 | .548 | .000 | .889 | 1.2 | 3.1 | .9 | .1 | 3.6 |
| Career | 1101 | 736 | 31.6 | .523 | .255 | .793 | 2.8 | 6.7 | 2.1 | .3 | 11.1 | |
| All-Star | 4 | 1 | 11.0 | .438 | — | 1.000 | .8 | 1.0 | .8 | .0 | 4.0 |
| Year | Team | GP | GS | MPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | PPG |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1979 | Philadelphia | 9 | – | 36.7 | .545 | – | .661 | 3.9 | 7.0 | 4.1 | .4 | 18.8 |
| 1980 | Philadelphia | 18 | – | 37.5 | .511 | .200 | .707 | 4.1 | 6.2 | 2.5 | .2 | 11.6 |
| 1981 | Philadelphia | 16 | – | 32.1 | .544 | .000 | .762 | 3.2 | 7.3 | 2.5 | .8 | 10.5 |
| 1982 | Philadelphia | 21 | – | 36.4 | .472 | .111 | .769 | 3.0 | 8.2 | 2.3 | .3 | 14.3 |
| 1983† | Philadelphia | 13 | – | 37.2 | .503 | .500 | .703 | 3.0 | 7.0 | 2.0 | .2 | 16.3 |
| 1984 | Philadelphia | 5 | – | 34.2 | .522 | .000 | .867 | 2.4 | 3.8 | 2.6 | .0 | 16.6 |
| 1985 | Philadelphia | 13 | 13 | 37.2 | .529 | .000 | .857 | 3.5 | 5.2 | 2.4 | .4 | 15.2 |
| 1986 | Philadelphia | 12 | 12 | 43.3 | .516 | .000 | .849 | 4.7 | 7.1 | 1.1 | .3 | 20.8 |
| 1987 | Philadelphia | 5 | 5 | 42.0 | .530 | .000 | .857 | 2.6 | 8.8 | 1.8 | .8 | 17.6 |
| 1989 | Philadelphia | 3 | 3 | 42.7 | .512 | .000 | .846 | 3.7 | 13.0 | 2.3 | .3 | 17.7 |
| 1990 | New York | 10 | 10 | 38.8 | .481 | .000 | .903 | 3.9 | 8.5 | 1.7 | .2 | 12.8 |
| 1991 | New York | 3 | 3 | 33.7 | .609 | .333 | .500 | 3.0 | 5.3 | 1.0 | .3 | 10.0 |
| 1993 | New Jersey | 5 | 0 | 16.4 | .478 | – | .000 | 1.2 | 2.8 | 1.2 | .2 | 4.4 |
| Career | 133 | 46 | 36.5 | .512 | .098 | .777 | 3.4 | 6.9 | 2.2 | .3 | 14.4 |
Per-game averages. † won an NBA championship · * led the league · ‡ NBA record (as marked).
Profile observation date unavailable.
- Height
- 6′ 1″
- Weight
- 180 lb
- Position
- Point guard
- Jersey
- Not listed
- Country
- USA
- School / last affiliation
- Not listed
- Draft year
- 1978
- Draft pick
- Round 2 · Pick 36
Height, Weight, Position, Country, Draft year, Draft pick: blank in the NBA.com profile, filled from the Wikipedia infobox credited in the About section above.
Roster observations
These dates show when our saved NBA directory observations listed this player with a team. They are not signing, trade or contract dates, and this is not a complete career history.
No roster observations are stored for this player. Historical profile details above do not establish a current team assignment.
Profile source
Biographical fields reflect the saved official profile at the check time shown above. Team assignments use the dated directory evidence in Roster observations. Offseason rosters and jersey numbers can change.
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