He played college basketball for the UP Fighting Maroons of the University Athletic Association of the Philippines (UAAP).
He has won championships in the juniors and seniors division of the UAAP, and has played for the Philippine national team multiple times.
[3] When he was 13 years old, he was discovered by coach Goldwin Monteverde, who recruited him to play for Adamson High School in Manila.
[2][3] Monteverde did this by promising him a photo opportunity with his favorite PBA player, June Mar Fajardo.
[4] Tamayo won Juniors Rookie of the Year for UAAP Season 78 as he averaged five points, 5.2 rebounds, and 1.4 blocks.
After that season, Tamayo, along with his teammate Gerry Abadiano, followed Coach Monteverde in transferring from Adamson to Nazareth School of National University.
[9] The NU Bullpups then won tournaments such as the NBTC League,[10] the 2018 Palarong Pambansa (in which he made the Mythical Five along with his teammates Abadiano and Terrence Fortea),[11] and the 2018 ASEAN School Games.
[12] The Bullpups opened their Season 81 campaign with a win over the FEU Baby Tamaraws, in which Tamayo scored 18 points, 10 rebounds, an assist and a block in 14 minutes off the bench.
[15] In their rematch in the second round of eliminations, he made a clutch and-one off a putback to give NU the lead and they eventually won again.
[14] Before the start of Season 82, NU successfully defended its ASEAN School Games title, in which they defeated Indonesia for the gold medal.
[22] The Bullpups then swept the Baby Tamaraws in the Finals, with Tamayo leading them in Game 2 with 26 points and 22 rebounds.
He also finished second in the NBTC 24 rankings, with only San Beda forward Rhayyan Amsali ahead of him.
[32] Tamayo made his UAAP seniors' debut in Season 84 in a loss to the Ateneo Blue Eagles with 13 points and 10 rebounds.
La Salle guard Evan Nelle had a chance to tie the game with a layup, but it missed which Tamayo rebounded.
Tamayo started the title defense campaign with a close win over the Green Archers in which he produced 18 points, 19 rebounds and two clutch free throws.
[45] Against the FEU Tamaraws, he had 16 points (with eight coming in the fourth quarter) as the Maroons scored their third straight win.
[47] In a rematch against Ateneo, he had a costly turnover in the last 20 seconds of regulation, but he bounced back in order by scoring six of his 20 points in overtime and got UP the win.
[48] He then had 13 points, seven rebounds, and four steals in a win over the UE Red Warriors, but he sprained his ankle in the final minute of that game.
[57] Before Game 2, he won a spot in the UAAP Mythical Five and P30,000 for the Lazada Swag Player of the Season, a fan award.
[70] On June 5, 2024, Tamayo signed with the Changwon LG Sakers in the Korean Basketball League (KBL).
[71] In his first game with them, he contributed eight points, seven rebounds, two steals, one assist, and one block in a win over the Daegu KOGAS Pegasus.
[73] Three games later, Tamayo returned with 17 points seven rebounds, and three assists as he made a clutch jumper with 1:19 remaining in a win over the Goyang Sono Skygunners.
[74] In their next game, he scored a career-high 37 points as he made all of his 15 shots from inside the arc along with seven rebounds and three assists in a loss to the Seoul Samsung Thunders.
[84] In 2021, Tamayo made his Gilas seniors debut against Korea in the 2022 FIBA Asia Cup qualifiers.
He rolled his ankle in that game, but still managed to play in the win against India, wherein he had three steals to go with nine points and nine rebounds while limiting his turnovers to just two.
[95] For the fifth window, he was called-up once again, but this time declined as he needed to recover from an injury he sustained during UAAP Season 85.