Six ex-Cats on the floor at the same time in Wednesday night NBA game
When Anthony Davis subbed in for the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday night at the 9:49 mark of the second quarter of their game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, it put a remarkable six former Kentucky Wildcats on the floor at the same time.
The occasion was noted by their former coach, John Calipari in a post on Twitter soon after it happened.
“I heard we had SIX guys — @AntDavis23, @J30_RANDLE, @DmillerKY, @pdpatt, @NerlensNoel3 and @hamidoudiallo — on the court at the same time tonight during the @PelicansNBA @okcthunder game. CRAZY!!! Proud father right here!” Calipari tweeted, using his guys’ Twitter handles.
The lineup spanned Calipari’s entire career at UK up till this season.
For the Pelicans, it was Davis, Julius Randle and Darius Miller. For the Thunder, it was Patrick Patterson, Nerlens Noel and Hamidou Diallo. Ex-Cat Andrew Harrison also saw action in the game for the Pelicans, but did not make it into the brief Big Blue super rotation.
The moment lasted just less than three minutes, expiring when Solomon Hill replaced Miller at the 6:59 mark.
The Pelicans won the game 118-114 and were led by Davis’ 44 points and 18 rebounds. Randle notched 22 and 12. Miller had 10 points in his 24 minutes off the bench. Harrison played seven minutes and contributed an assist.
The Thunder Cats saw more limited action with Patterson on the floor for 18 minutes, scoring three points, Noel scoring four points in 11 minutes and getting a monster block on Randle, and Diallo checking in for five minutes.
For a full list of “where-are-they-now?” ex-Cats, check out the Herald-Leader’s ex-Cats in the NBA page here.