Photinia x fraseri most likely.

Could be fine. Maples grow in flushes, keep it watered and mulched, wait and see what the current flush develops into. Since plant is growing away nicely now (above the ground, at least), at this stage it seems root deformity would most likely only become a problem many years from now, if it resulted in girdling and constriction. If in doubt expose roots and correct when leaves are off during dormant season.

Update: I saw an army of ants going up and down the tree, protecting whatever was up there, so after some research I applied tanglefoot to the trunk like so: sticky foam weatherstripping wrapped around the trunk (to allow growth), duck tape over the stripping, and tanglefoot on the duck tape. Then I went on vacation for 10 days. When I came back, the ants were gone and normal growth had resumed at the top of the tree. (The latter could be a coincidence I suppose.) However, I noticed a gash in the trunk right under where the stripping was applied. When I removed everything to investigate I realized I had made a mistake: in this humidity, the trunk was moist under the weather stripping, and I guess some tiny critters were eating away at it. The pic shows the gash. Caliper diameter is around 8 inches for reference. I imagine just leaving it alone would be best, but I wanted to check here. I'm also open to suggestions on how to prevent ants in a way that doesn't cause this problem. Thanks!

Welcome to Louisiana ........My guess is Red Tip Photinia..I could be wrong as I do not have any in my yard ) If it is..... lots of imformation if you to a search on the forum..... ....I read this recently :Ten years ago, one of the most popular shrubs in the South was the Red-tip Photinia (Photinia fraseri). Everybody wanted this handsome evergreen shrub and it was widely grown by Southern nursery growers for use in both commercial and residential landscapes. Red-tip is a wonderful, large, evergreen shrub with attractive foliage and showy white flowers. Its claim to fame is brilliant red new foliage that appears in the spring. Nevertheless, in the last 10 years or so, Red-tip has gone from the top of the list to the bottom due to intense pressure from a devastating fungal disease. Red-tip is highly susceptible to the fungal pathogen known as Entomosporium that causes leaf spots and ultimately defoliation. The disease has all but eliminated Red-tip from the list of recommended shrubs for Southern landscapes. In fact, the disease is so widespread that one plant pathologist jokingly explained that there are two types of Red-tip, those that have the disease and those that are going to get it! So, even though newly planted Red-tip bushes may stay disease free for many years, ultimately they will succumb to the inevitable. Carol