phillyvoice
July 11, 2026 Alex Reese has seen all of the jokes about his jersey number.
When Reese became one of many players to join the Sixers in the final weeks of the 2024-25 season, he also became just the second player in NBA history to wear 65 on his jersey.
The only player to do so before Reese was George Ratkovicz, whose rookie NBA campaign for the Syracuse Nationals in 1949-50 came just a few years after he had allowed 38 runs in 70.0 innings as a minor-league pitcher for the Martinsville A's, Raleigh Capitals and Youngstown Gremlins.
Reese helped the Sixers get through the final weeks of a challenging season before being waived.
He spent the 2025-26 campaign in the NBA G League.
Reese's latest quest to reach the highest level of basketball in the world is underway: almost exactly a year after being waived by the Sixers, he will face their Summer League team as part of the Indiana Pacers' squad in Las Vegas on Saturday.
Amid a season full of losses and roster shuffling in Philadelphia, Sixers fans sought out comedic relief.
So during Reese's brief Sixers tenure, fans made many quips about a player they were not familiar with because of the two digits on his back.
The jokes were about Ratkovicz, about offensive linemen and about something so visible also seeming so random and so representative of a brutal campaign.
Even one of Reese's new Sixers teammates made a joke to him about his jersey number.
But in reality, Reese's decision to wear the number 65 was anything but thoughtless.
It doesnt bother me at all," Reese said confidently.
"I see a lot of the comments and stuff.
It doesn't bother me at all.
To a point, Reese's journey to the NBA has been well-documented.
After a four-year career at the University of Alabama, where he played close to his hometown of Pelham, Ala., Reese stopped playing basketball for a year.
As the story goes, Reese moved furniture and became a bartender.
He did landscaping work, too.
They were jobs he did not want to work anymore.
So, it was back to basketball for Reese after a sabbatical that seemed bizarre to those unfamiliar with what was going on in his life.
Reese only made vague comments about why he took that year off.
He told people he had to clear his mind before returning to basketball.
But it was deeper than that.
Reese's reason for taking a pivotal year in his career off from the game he loves was the same reason he still dons the number 65 on his jersey: his mother, Rebakah.
She was diagnosed right around the start of COVID," Reese told PhillyVoice and The Philadelphia Inquirer last summer, days before being waived.
"I actually just came out of surgery on my hip that summer, and she was diagnosed when I was going through rehab and stuff.
So that was really tough.
That summer was really tough.
But then, she was still responsive.
She had Alzheimer's.
Early-onset.
For an NBA hopeful, taking a full year off from playing and training immediately after graduating college is almost unheard of.
It is hard to imagine that not derailing someone's chances of getting to the league.
But to Reese, that was no longer the priority.
He had to be with Rebakah and help his family take care of her, and said he is "extremely grateful" he took that year off at home in Alabama.
"I needed it," Reese said.
"I didn't know if I was going to make the push to try to play professionally.
But once I took the year off, I got my mindset a little bit better." Following his gap year, Reese played a season in Luxembourg and earned himself a spot in the G League.
He spent a week and change on the Oklahoma City Thunder's standard roster to begin 2024-25, then played for the Rip City Remix, the G League affiliate of the Portland Trail Blazers.
Reese had to choose a jersey number, and there were not many standard options available.
He thought of his ill mother, who was born in 1965.
Suddenly, he had an idea.
We couldn't choose a number that the NBA guys were wearing over there, and they had a bunch of numbers retired and everything," Reese said.
"And I've never really had a number that I want to go for, so I saw 65, and my mom had just gotten sick, so I thought it'd be a good way to honor her.
And it ended up being her last season, being able to watch.
She passed at the end of that season..
Now I have a reason to keep it up.
Rebakah was "past the point" of being able to verbally express her appreciation for the tribute, Reese said.
But he knew his unique jersey number was significant to her.
It was a long season, good season, and she passed right at the end of it," Reese said.
"The second to last game.
She was happy about it.
She liked the fact that I chose that to kind of it just helps me think of her when Im doing it.
Makes it easy for me to look down and see why Im doing what Im doing.
Every time Reese puts on a jersey no matter which team he is doing it on behalf of he can draw motivation knowing everything he does on the floor is in honor of his mother.
In the same vein, it is a challenge to compress all of the emotions that come with that.
He staged an incredible ascent into the NBA, playing in 14 games for the Sixers.
He has remained one of the most productive players in the G League, a legitimate candidate for a two-way contract.
Last season, Reese, 27, became the Remix's all-time leading scorer.
It would not have been possible without Rebakah.
Yet she is not here to see it.
It's hard because I obviously wish she was here to see it and see where I've made it now.
It's tough," Reese said.
"But it makes it easier for me to go play.
Because Reese played his college basketball so close to home, Rebakah was able to attend many of his games with the Crimson Tide.
"Her being there, it's awesome," he said of those times.
His entire family made it to his graduation, which he called a "big, big day for all of us." But he would never have even gotten to that point without her embracing his athletic ambitions as a child.
When I was little, smallest, I was playing baseball," Reese said.
"So, she drove me all around the Southeast playing baseball.
And the same as I got older, I started playing basketball in middle school.
She'd help me out, take me to practices, tournaments, all kinds of stuff.
Id beg her to take me to the gym or even outside courts to work out." For Reese, the most painful part of the entire thing might be that Rebakah is not around to share in his successes after playing such a critical role in enabling him to reach this point.
"Yeah, she came through with a lot of that stuff," Reese said.
"So I wish she was still here so I could pay her back a little bit." There is a whole crew of folks behind Reese who helped him in his times of need.
His brothers, Nate and Zach.
Relatives who came to Alabama to help.
The friends willing to give him a place to stay when he needed it.
Reese is honoring all of them, too, even if he has not told them about it.
Reese is mild-mannered; he generally does not show much emotion outwardly.
He is largely a man of few words and aptly described himself as "laid back." He admitted that this conversation was one he had yet to have with many of the people close to him.
But a look of pride appeared on Reese's face as he talked about the sheer size of the stage he found himself on with the Sixers as he performed this tribute to his mother.
As much pain as it can cause to lose someone, it can provide relief to honor them in whatever fashion feels right.
So, as Reese looks to earn his way back into the NBA, he will do it thinking of the one person that brings out a more talkative, eager side to him the person represented by the 65 on his chest and back: his late mother, Rebakah.
She was super sweet," Reese said.
"She cared about everybody, loved everybody.
She wanted the best for everybody she came in contact with.
I think anybody that met her can tell you the same thing.
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