The NBA has a restart date. Which former UK stars are still in the playoff chase?
The NBA is set for a July return, which means several former University of Kentucky stars will renew their quest for a championship.
The NBA’s Board of Governors on Thursday approved of a plan that called for 22 teams — 13 in the Western Conference and nine in the Eastern Conference — to resume play beginning July 31 at the ESPN Wide World of Sports complex at Disney World in Orlando, according to reports from ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
Those teams will each play eight additional regular-season games before the final playoff spots in each conference — eight apiece — are locked in.
The teams selected to resume play were all at least within six games of a playoff spot. NBA plans also call for the possibility of a best-of-two “play-in” round for the eighth seeds in each conference if the team that finishes ninth in either conference is within four games of the No. 8 seed once the regular season is completed.
This plan means several Wildcats who otherwise would have been left watching from home will be able to continue pursuing playoff berths. All told, 18 of the 29 former UK stars on NBA rosters will suit up as play resumes. Here’s a breakdown of who’s in.
Devin Booker
The Phoenix Suns were the final Western Conference team invited to return and have the longest odds of actually earning a postseason bid, but they’ll have an opportunity. Booker’s squad will resume play exactly six games back of the Memphis Grizzlies, the current No. 8 seed in the Western Conference standings. If the Suns were to qualify, it would be Booker’s first postseason appearance in the NBA.
Booker before the stoppage was averaging career-highs in minutes played (36.1), field-goal percentage (48.7) and free-throw percentage (91.6). The 23-year-old is in his fifth year as a pro and played in his first All-Star Game in February. His 26.1 points per game ranked 10th in the NBA before the season was postponed.
De’Aaron Fox
After missing 17 games due to an ankle injury, Fox played in 30 of the Sacramento Kings’ last 31 games and scored at least 20 points in 21 of those contests. Sacramento was 13-7 over its last 20 games, putting itself in position for a playoff push. It’s currently No. 11 in the Western Conference standings and 3.5 games behind Memphis for the final postseason spot.
Fox in his third year is averaging a career-high 20.4 points per game to go along with 6.8 assists and 1.4 steals. He’s struggled from three-point range — down to 30.7 percent from 37.1 percent last season — but his overall shooting is at a career-best 47.5 percent.
Enes Kanter
The Boston Celtics signed Kanter to a two-year contract worth a total of nearly $10 million prior to the start of the 2019-20 season. He’s playing the third-fewest minutes per game of his career (17.5) and his season averages (8.2 points, 7.7 rebounds) are among his lowest since his early days in the league, Kanter’s individual net rating — an advanced metric that suggests how much better or worse a team is with that player on the court — for the season is 8.3, by far the highest in his nine-year career. He also led the league in offensive rebound percentage (15.0) and was third in rebound percentage (20.0) when play stopped.
Boston has clinched a playoff spot and is currently the No. 3 seed in the Eastern Conference, though it could theoretically fall as far as sixth in the standings.
Willie Cauley-Stein and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist
Both ex-Cats were acquired by the Dallas Mavericks in the months prior to the league’s shutdown.
Cauley-Stein was traded from the Golden State Warriors and has played in 13 games for Dallas, averaging 5.2 points and 4.6 rebounds in those appearances.
Kidd-Gilchrist played in 12 games for the Charlotte Hornets — the team that drafted him No. 2 overall in 2012 — before that organization waived him in February. He played in nine games for the Mavericks after signing on Feb. 11.
Dallas entering the restart is No. 7 in the Western Conference but has a seven-game lead over eighth-seeded Memphis.
Jamal Murray
Murray was averaging career highs in scoring (18.8), assists (4.8) and shooting (45.5%) prior to the league’s shutdown. He’s in his fourth year with the Denver Nuggets, the No. 3 seed in the Western Conference when play halted.
Denver has locked up a playoff berth but conceivably could finish anywhere from No. 1 to No. 7 in the standings, depending on how things play out.
Patrick Patterson
Patterson signed a one-year, $2.3 million deal with the Los Angeles Clippers, ensuring him of a 10th season in the NBA. He’s played in 51 of 64 games for the Clippers, starting 18 times, and this season has averaged 4.6 points, 2.4 rebounds and 38.7-percent shooting from behind the three-point line.
The addition of Marcus Morris to the Clippers’ roster in February coincided with a decline in Patterson’s playing time; he appeared in seven of the Clippers’ last 15 games, playing no more than eight minutes in any of them.
Los Angeles restarts as the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference. It is 5.5 games behind its Staples Center roommate, the Los Angeles Lakers, and 1.5 games ahead of the third-seeded Denver Nuggets.
Anthony Davis and Rajon Rondo
Speaking of the Lakers, Davis’ first season as Robin to LeBron James’ Batman couldn’t have been much better before the pandemic began.
Davis was averaging 26.7 points per game — first among former Wildcats, ninth in the league and two spots ahead of James — and maintained a player efficiency rating of 28.25, third-highest in the NBA behind reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo and 2018 MVP James Harden. He also was averaging 9.4 points and 2.4 blocks while shooting 51.1 percent from the floor.
Davis’ player impact estimate at the time of stoppage was fifth in the league behind Antetokounmpo, James, Luka Doncic and Kawhi Leonard. The Lakers will restart as the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
Rondo has taken on a lesser role in his second year with the Lakers but already has played more games this season (48) than he did in 2018-19 (46). The 14-year veteran and NBA champion is averaging 7.1 points, 5.0 assists and 3.0 rebounds in 20.5 minutes per game.
Bam Adebayo and Tyler Herro
The Miami Heat selected former Wildcats with late lottery picks in two of the last three NBA Drafts, and the early returns for both have been promising.
Adebayo made his first All-Star Game appearance in February. The 22-year-old has started all 65 of Miami’s games this season, averaging 16.2 points and 10.5 rebounds a night. This season his 8.1 win shares — a stat that attempts to attribute an amount of a team’s overall success to one player — ranks ninth in the league and is second only to Davis (10.3) among all former UK stars.
Herro, a rookie, missed 15 straight games with an ankle injury before seeing limited run in a loss to the Charlotte Hornets on March 11, the last game Miami played before the restart. He was averaging 12.9 points, 4.0 rebounds and 1.9 assists this season while shooting nearly 40 percent (39.1) from three-point range. Recently, he tweeted: “I’m ready to hoop.”
Miami was the No. 4 seed in the Eastern Conference before play halted and is assured a playoff spot.
Eric Bledsoe
Bledsoe has the distinction of being the only ex-Cat on the team with the league’s best record.
The Milwaukee Bucks are 53-12, three full games ahead of the Lakers for the top spot in the overall NBA and 6.5 games ahead of the second-seeded Toronto Raptors in the Eastern Conference. They’re one of four teams that had clinched a playoff spot prior to the shutdown, despite a three-game losing streak heading into the extended layoff.
Bledsoe is in his 10th NBA season and third with the Bucks, who signed him to a four-year, $70 million contract that began with the current season. He’s averaging 15.4 points, 5.4 assists and 4.6 assists.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Hamidou Diallo and Nerlens Noel
No team has more former Wildcats on its roster than the Oklahoma City Thunder, who are assured of a playoff spot and were seeded fifth in the Western Conference prior to the restart.
Gilgeous-Alexander, a second-year player, is the most notable of the trio. He’s missed only one game this season and started the other 63, and is averaging 19.3 points, 6.1 rebounds and 3.3 assists — all career-highs. He was traded to the Thunder prior to the 2019-20 season as part of the Clippers’ deal for Paul George.
Diallo was traded twice during the 2018 NBA Draft, finally landing with the Thunder. He missed 20 games this season with a hyper-extended elbow but had played in most of Oklahoma City’s games that occurred in the 2020 calendar year. This season he’s averaged 6.1 points and 3.2 rebounds off the bench.
Noel, a sixth-year player, also is in his second season with the Thunder. He’s averaging 7.7 points, 4.9 rebounds and 1.5 blocks per game while shooting 68.5 percent from the floor.
Wenyen Gabriel
Gabriel made his NBA debut with Sacramento this season but was acquired by the Portland Trail Blazers in January. The undrafted free agent played in only 11 games for the Kings prior to that deal but had averaged 19.3 points and 6.9 rebounds for the Stockton Kings, their G League affiliate. He’d played in 17 games for Portland prior to the shutdown, averaging 2.4 points and 2.1 rebounds while shooting 41.7 percent from the three-point arc.
The Trail Blazers, along with the Kings and New Orleans Pelicans, are 3.5 games behind the Grizzlies for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference.
Keldon Johnson and Trey Lyles
After spending much of his rookie season in the G League, Johnson played double-digit minutes in the San Antonio Spurs’ last four games before the break. He’s averaged 4.6 points and 1.9 rebounds in the NBA proper but in 31 minor-league games put up 20.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 2.4 assists a night.
Lyles, who’s in his fifth year but did not have his original rookie contract extended by the Utah Jazz or Denver Nuggets, signed a two-year, $11 million deal with the Spurs as an unrestricted free agent last summer. He’s played in all 63 of their games, starting 53 of them, and is averaging 6.4 points along with career-highs in rebounding (5.7), free-throw shooting (73.3%), three-point shooting (38.7%) and minutes played (20.2).
San Antonio entering this season had matched an NBA record with 22 consecutive playoff appearances. It is four games behind the Memphis Grizzlies for the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference.
Injured list
Darius Miller’s and John Wall’s teams will participate in the restart, but neither will be on the court.
Miller, a member of the New Orleans Pelicans, suffered a rupture of his right Achilles tendon in August. He’d played in 69 games for the Pelicans during the 2018-19 season, after which he signed a two-year, $14.2 million deal with the team. An update on his availability hasn’t been made.
Wall recently said that he’s “110 percent” healthy after tearing his left Achilles tendon last February, but he and the Washington Wizards, which drafted him No. 1 overall in 2010, have said he won’t return until the 2020-21 season. He suffered that injury soon after undergoing surgery to have bone spurs removed in the same foot. The five-time All-Star hasn’t played in a game since December 2018.
Left out
The following teams won’t be participating in the NBA’s resumption of play, therefore officially ending the seasons of the ex-Cats on their rosters.
Atlanta Hawks: Skal Labissiere.
Charlotte Hornets: Malik Monk, PJ Washington.
Detroit Pistons: Brandon Knight.
Golden State Warriors: Mychal Mulder.
Minnesota Timberwolves: Karl-Anthony Towns, Jarred Vanderbilt.
New York Knicks: Kevin Knox, Julius Randle.
This story was originally published June 6, 2020 at 8:51 AM.
