Maurice Cheeks

Verified Timeline

Lore & Background

Cheeks' time with the 76ers began after a pivotal high school moment where teammate William Dise convinced West Texas State coach Ron Ekker to recruit both players. Cheeks became a four-year starter at West Texas, earning All-Missouri Valley Conference honors three times and team MVP three times. In the NBA, he solidified his role as the starting point guard by age 22, playing nearly 30 minutes per game in his rookie season. The 1982–83 season marked a peak for the franchise; the Sixers posted a 65–17 record, the second-best in team history and the second-best league-wide in the 1980s behind the 1986 Boston Celtics. Cheeks averaged 12.5 points, 6.9 assists, and 2.3 steals that year. He was named to four straight NBA All-Defensive squads from 1983 to 1986. Although the team made the playoffs in 1988–89 and Cheeks made his last All-Star appearance that season, they were swept by the New York Knicks in the first round.

In Their Own Story

On April 15, 1992, while playing for the Atlanta Hawks against his former team, the New York Knicks, a defining career moment occurred. In the second-to-last game of the season, Cheeks picked off four steals to surpass longtime Philadelphia teammate Julius Erving's combined ABA and NBA steals record of 2,272. This achievement highlighted his longevity and defensive prowess. Earlier in his career, during the 1986 playoffs, he averaged a career-high 20.8 points throughout the postseason. His rookie year also featured a historic defensive display: averaging 4.1 steals per game (37 steals in nine games) in the 1979 NBA Playoffs, an NBA record for a single playoff run that stood as of 2024. Even after leaving Philadelphia for teams like San Antonio and New Jersey, his impact remained evident through his consistent playmaking and ability to generate turnovers.

Reader's Guide

Cheeks is recognized primarily for his elite defensive skills and team play. He was the first player in NBA history with 2,000 steals solely within the league. His offensive contributions were equally vital; he averaged 11.7 points and over 2 steals per game for his career. As a coach, he returned to Philadelphia as an assistant from 1994 through 2001 under head coaches John Lucas, Johnny Davis, and Larry Brown. This tenure culminated in the team reaching the 2001 NBA Finals. In 2005, Cheeks was named head coach of the 76ers. Despite missing the playoffs in his first two seasons and facing frustrations with veterans Allen Iverson and Chris Webber, he led the youngest team in the NBA to a playoff berth on April 4, 2008. This marked their first postseason appearance since 2005 and the first in the post-Iverson era, though they were eliminated by the Detroit Pistons.

Did You Know?

• Cheeks was inducted into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame as a player in 2018.
• He played one year coaching for the Continental Basketball Association's Quad City Thunder before becoming a Sixers assistant.
• In 2003, he famously aided 13-year-old Natalie Gilbert in singing the American national anthem at a Trail Blazers game, an act cited by Harvard Business School as an example of true leadership.
• As of 2024, Cheeks ranks seventh all-time in steals and sixteenth in assists in NBA-only rankings.