Former Kentucky men’s basketball player Chris Livingston made his NBA Playoffs debut on Monday, suiting up for the Milwaukee Bucks against the Indiana Pacers.
Livingston committed to Kentucky as a McDonald’s All American and former FIBA Americas Under-16 Championship MVP, acting as one of two consensus five-star commits in John Calipari’s 2022 class along with Cason Wallace.
In Lexington, Livingston and the Cats went 22-12 overall, earning a No. 6 seed in the NCAA Tournament where they were defeated in the second round by Kansas State after disappointing for the majority of the season.
While Wallace declaring for the 2023 NBA Draft raised little eyebrows, the same couldn’t be said when Livingston announced he, too, would be joining Wallace in the Draft pool.
The move ultimately paid off for Livingston, however, as he was drafted No. 58 overall — in the second round — by Milwaukee.
In his freshman season Livingston struggled to carve out his niche on a Milwaukee team led by former NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, seeing sporadic appearances throughout the season.
His best month was February in which he saw the court in six games, half of which were winning efforts, and scored a career-high — which has since been tied — six points.
In the month of April Livingston saw the court in three games, the most notable of which was a losing effort against the Western Conference winning Oklahoma City Thunder in which he played 14 minutes and went 3-3 from the field, tying his six-point record.
Many expected Livingston’s season to end there, but that proved to not be the case when, on Monday, Livingston checked into the Bucks’ NBA Playoffs matchup against the Indiana Pacers.
After not playing in game one, which the Bucks won 109-94, Livingston subbed in for former Stanford Third Team All-American and McDonald’s All-American Brook Lopez late in the fourth quarter with the Bucks down 121-102.
He would play the remainder of the contest, which would finish 125-108 in favor of Indiana, earning a double technical foul along with Indiana’s Obi Toppin — former Dayton superstar and brother of Livingston’s former teammate Jacob Toppin — with 11 seconds remaining.
The Milwaukee Bucks will return to action on Friday, April 26, for game three against the Pacers with the series tied 1-1. The contest, taking place in Gainbridge Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, will begin at 5:30 p.m. ET and will air live on ESPN.
