How are former Ohio State basketball players faring in the NBA this year?
Brett Ludwiczak via our friends at Land-Grant Holy Land
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Since we are in the middle of the All-Star break, it feels like a good time to check in on the former Buckeyes in the NBA.
With more than half the season over, the NBA is in the middle of their All-Star break. Even though no former
Ohio State players will be playing in this year’s All-Star Game in Indianapolis, there are a number of former Buckeyes who have been playing solid basketball in the first half of the season. Currently, there are eight Ohio State alums on NBA rosters and today we are going to update you on how their seasons are going before teams return to the court and gear up for the push towards the playoffs.
Mike Conley - Guard - Minnesota Timberwolves
The fourth overall pick in the 2007
NBA Draft is now in his 17th season in the NBA. Minneapolis has been a great fit for Conley since the Timberwolves acquired the Buckeye point guard before last season’s trade deadline. Minnesota entered the All-Star break with a 39-16 record, which is the best record in the Eastern Conference. With stars like Anthony Edwards, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Rudy Gobert lining up with him, the spotlight isn’t shining on Conley nearly as brightly as it was earlier in his career in Memphis.
In the 50 games he has played so far this season, Conley is averaging 10.6 points per game and 6.4 assists per game. Even though Conley hasn’t hit the 20-point mark on the scoresheet so far this year, he has five games with 10 assists. Head coach Chris Finch has done a great job at getting Conley minutes, but not overworking him, as Conley is seeing 29 minutes of playing time per game. Minnesota recently added to their depth behind Conley, acquiring point guard Monte Morris from Detroit earlier this month.
The Timberwolves are going to need Conley’s experience over the next few months, since they’ll not only be trying to hold off teams like the Los Angeles Clippers, Denver Nuggets, and Oklahoma City Thunder for the top spot in the Western Conference, once the playoffs begin there will be plenty of tough matchups waiting for them. Luka Doncic, LeBron James, and Steph Curry are superstars whom Minnesota could match up in the first round.
Minnesota Timberwolves G Mike Conley Jr. has agreed on a two-year $21 million extension, Steven Heumann and Jess Holtz of
@CAA_Basketball tell ESPN. The Timberwolves keep Conley Jr. out of summer free agency and in backcourt thru 2025-2026.
pic.twitter.com/M9MSc3zdsr
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn)
February 19, 2024
On Monday afternoon news came out that Conley and the Timberwolves have agreed to a two-year extension, keeping the point guard in Minnesota until the 2025-26 season. Unless there is a trade or buyout, Conley could be wrapping up his career in the Twin Cities. Not to say Conley won’t play in the league beyond this extension, but it’s not very often we see players spend nearly 20 years playing in the NBA. At least the former Buckeye is playing with a team that is looking like it could make a deep run in the playoffs, and he can finally earn his first NBA title.
D’Angelo Russell - Guard - Los Angeles Lakers
One of the best players in the NBA since the beginning of 2024 has been D’Angelo Russell. The former Ohio State guard averaged 22.7 points per game in January, and 20.3 points per game this month. Russell must have been fueled by trade rumors he was mentioned in before the NBA’s trade deadline a few weeks ago. The
Lakers decided to keep Russell and the decision has the team playing some of the best basketball of the season, entering the All-Star break on a three-game winning streak.
In his final game before the All-Star break, Russell flirted with a triple-double against Utah, finishing with 11 points, 17 assists, and nine rebounds in a 138-22 win on Wednesday night. Something about Salt Lake City has Russell upping his game, as last month he scored a season-high 39 points in a loss to the Jazz. So far this season Russell has cracked the 30-point mark in four games, and he has recorded a double-double in six contests.
With stars like LeBron James and Anthony Davis, the Lakers don’t need Russell to score 30 points every time out. What Los Angeles needs is for Russell to be engaged and productive for the nights when LeBron and Davis aren’t having their normal impact on the game. If Russell continues to hit nearly 42 percent of his three-point attempts, which is a career-high, the Lakers are going to end up being a tougher out in the playoffs than they were looking like earlier in the season.
Malaki Branham - Guard - San Antonio Spurs
Last year’s first-round pick by San Antonio has been overshadowed by this year’s first-round pick by the Spurs. Despite the Spurs sitting in last place in the Western Conference, Victor Wembanyama has taken the league by storm with his incredible play so far this season. While Branham has mainly been coming off the bench this season, the former Buckeye is averaging 20 minutes per game and eight points per contest.
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Lately, Branham has had a hard time finding much traction. In December, Branham had a very strong month, reaching double figures in scoring in 12 of the 14 games he played in, finishing the month with 10.5 points per game. Branham saw his scoring cut in half in January, averaging 5.6 points per game, and it has improved slightly this month, with the second-year pro scoring 6.7 points per game. There was a positive game for Branham heading into the All-Star break though, as he tied his season-high with 19 points in a loss to Dallas on Wednesday night.
With the Spurs having an 11-44 record so far this season, the rest of the year will be about development. It will be interesting to see if San Antonio gives Branham more playing time to evaluate if he is the right fit to be part of the core they build around Wembanyama, or if they are looking to go in a different direction and are planning to move him in the offseason.
Keita Bates-Diop - Forward - Brooklyn Nets
One former Ohio State who was recently traded was Keita Bates-Diop. After starting the season with the
Phoenix Suns, Bates-Diop was moved to Brooklyn at the trade deadline as part of the deal that brought Royce O’Neale to Phoenix. Prior to the trade, Bates-Diop appeared in 39 games with the Suns, starting eight times. In 15.3 minutes per game, Bates-Diop was averaging 4.5 points per contest.
In just two games with Brooklyn so far, Bates-Diop hasn’t had much of an impact, with the bulk of the time he has been on the floor coming in a blowout against Boston where he played 12 minutes and scored seven points in the 136-86 loss to the
Celtics in the final game before the All-Star break for the Nets. Brooklyn currently has a 21-33 record this season, so it is going to take quite an effort to close out the regular season if the Nets are going to make the playoffs.
Jae’Sean Tate - Forward - Houston Rockets
Much like Bates-Diop, Jae’Sean Tate is in a similar position with the
Houston Rockets. At 24-30, Houston is on the outside looking in when it comes to the playoffs, even though they have been greatly improved from what we saw from the Rockets last year. Tate has been a fixture of the bench for Houston, starting in just nine of his 51 appearances so far this season. The former Buckeye is averaging 17.5 minutes per game, 4.4 points per game, and 3.3 rebounds per contest.
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The best performance of the season for Tate came on the first day of 2024 when he scored a season-high 16 points in 26 minutes before fouling out in a 136-113 win over Detroit. Along with his New Year’s Day output, Tate has reached double figures in scoring four times this season. Tate has also done work on the glass in limited floor time, pulling down at least eight rebounds in four games. With a crowded frontcourt, it will likely be tough to see Tate’s playing time increase expect for the forward to give maximum effort when his number is called.
Brice Sensabaugh - Forward - Utah Jazz
If you haven’t been paying attention to the season for Ohio State’s lone first-round draft pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, you haven’t missed much. Sensabaugh entered the season recovering from knee surgery and has only appeared in six NBA games so far this year. The forward scored his first NBA points last month in a 145-113 win against Toronto, finishing with five points in four minutes.
While Sensabaugh gets his legs under him at the professional level, instead of sitting on the bench, Utah has had Sensabaugh playing in the G-League, where he is averaging 19 points per game in 20 appearances this season. The move is a smart one by the Jazz, who have a deep roster with guys like Lauri Markkanen, John Collins, Otto Porter Jr., and a number of others at forward. Currently, Utah is a couple of games behind Golden State for the final play-in tournament spot, but it would be hard to imagine Sensabaugh’s role changing the rest of the season.
E.J. Liddell - Forward - New Orleans Pelicans
Duane Washington Jr. - New York Knicks
Even though both of these former Ohio State players are currently on NBA rosters, they are seeing little to no playing time this season so far. Liddell has played in eight games this year, while Washington still hasn’t seen the court after signing a two-way contract with New York last month. The good news for Liddell and Washington is they are both on teams that currently have a firm grasp on playoff spots.
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