The Larry O’Brien, one of the most coveted awards in American sports, is the culmination of the NBA playoffs. Over the next two months, 20 teams and more than 200 players will fight for the trophy.
UCLA is one of the best schools when it comes to producing pro-level talent, with seven former Bruins in the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame. Inducted so far are some of the most successful NBA players of all time, including MVPs Kareem Abdul-Jabbar and Bill Walton, as well as Reggie Miller, Gail Goodrich and Jamaal Wilkes. Abdul-Jabbar and Walton have eight NBA championships combined.
This year, 11 alumni are set to make their own individual playoff pushes. Not included in this list is NBA champion and five-time All-Star Kevin Love – who will likely miss most of the playoffs because of a personal matter – and Adem Bona and Johnny Juzang, whose teams are not in the playoffs.
Fan favorites from the Bruins’ legendary 2021 Final Four run, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Jaylen Clark, play for the 10-seeded Miami Heat and six-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves, respectively.
Jaquez averages eight points per game for the Heat this year and scored almost 13 per game in the Heat’s single playoff series last season. Clark, on the other hand, has had a much smaller role with the Timberwolves, playing just over 13 minutes per game. But with playoff intensity often comes injury trouble, so it’s possible that Clark could find himself with more opportunity with Minnesota.
From another Final Four run is future Hall of Famer Russell Westbrook, who currently plays for the four-seeded Denver Nuggets. The 36-year-old is no stranger to the playoffs, having played in 122 games across his 17-year career. Westbrook averages 23.6 points, 7.5 assists and seven rebounds in such games. This season, he has acted as more of a Swiss Army knife player, providing the Nuggets with whatever they need off the bench – a crucial role come playoff time. The Nuggets are set for a matchup with Westbrook’s former team, the Los Angeles Clippers, in round one.
Clippers guard Norman Powell, who played for UCLA from 2011 to 2015, is set to face Westbrook. For the first time since joining the team, Powell was offered a starting role, something he took full advantage of. He averaged a career-high 21.8 ppg this season, filling in for the loss of All-Star Paul George. Powell won the 2019 NBA championship in a small role with the Toronto Raptors and has averaged 17.3 points in playoff games with the Clippers.
Two brothers in the playoffs, Aaron and Jrue Holiday, graduated from UCLA almost a decade apart. Aaron Holiday plays for the two-seeded Houston Rockets in a small role, averaging 6 ppg. Jrue Holiday plays for the two-seeded Boston Celtics, the team with the second-best odds to win the Larry O’Brien. Jrue Holiday has won it twice in his career already, last season with the Celtics and in 2021 with the Milwaukee Bucks.
The Bruin alumnus averaging the most ppg this season is Zach Lavine, who was traded to the nine-seeded Sacramento Kings midway through the season. Lavine averaged 22.4 ppg in his time with the Kings and 19.3 ppg in his singular career playoff series. The two-time All-Star’s efficiency will be key in the playoffs, as he shot 51.1% overall and 44.6% from three this season.
Other notable alumni in the playoffs include Lonzo Ball – whose name can be seen on the backs of jerseys all across Pauley Pavilion – Kyle Anderson, Peyton Watson and Kevon Looney.
Any of these alumni have a strong chance to hoist the Larry O’Brien trophy in June, since the NBA playoffs are one of the most unpredictable events in sports. Regardless, the vast Bruins that scatter the association continue to uphold the legacy of what it means to be a UCLA alumnus.
