He played college basketball for the University of Kansas[1] before he was selected by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 41st overall pick in the 2012 NBA draft.

During the 2007–08 season, Taylor's team went 32–0 and was awarded the high school basketball mythical national championship by USA Today.

Taylor changed his KU jersey number from 15 to 10 prior to his sophomore year and averaged 7.2 points and 3.4 assists per game on the 2009–10 Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball team who won both the Big 12 regular season and tournament championships.

Taylor, along with All-American Thomas Robinson, helped lead Kansas to the 2012 national championship game before losing to Kentucky.

[5] When Deron Williams was ruled out for final two games before the All-Star break with ankle problems, Taylor was put into the Nets' rotation.

[7] On November 25, in a loss against the Los Angeles Lakers, coach Jason Kidd asked Taylor to "accidentally" bump into him because the Nets were out of timeouts.

[9][10] On January 21, 2014, Taylor was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans in exchange for cash considerations and the rights to Edin Bavčić.

[13] On February 21, 2014, Taylor signed with Atléticos de San Germán of Puerto Rico for the 2014 BSN season.

[19] On August 8, 2016, Taylor signed a one-year deal with Maccabi Kiryat Gat of the Israeli Premier League.

FOE lost 72–67 in the Super 16 against Boeheim's Army, a team composed of Syracuse University basketball alum.