The NBA Conference Finals have made its way back around and six former Kentucky players will be participating, all looking to win their first NBA Championship.
Each of the four qualified teams including the Oklahoma City Thunder, Minnesota Timberwolves, Indiana Pacers and New York Knicks hold at least one former Cat on its roster with Oklahoma City and Minnesota holding two, meaning at least one former Wildcat will be a part of a championship winning team.
On the western side of the bracket, the Thunder have Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2018) and Cason Wallace (2023) who will look to take down Julius Randle (2014) and Rob Dillingham (2024), while on the eastern side, Isaiah Jackson (2021) and the Pacers will look to avenge Karl-Anthony Towns (2015) and the Knicks.
Gilgeous-Alexander had a top-tier season for OKC, finishing the regular season with a career-high 32.7 points per game while leading the Thunder to a league-best 68-14 record. Through the first two rounds of the playoffs, against the Memphis Grizzlies and Denver Nuggets, SGA averaged 29 points per game.
Wallace obviously hasn’t played an as significant role as SGA this season, but in the 21-year-olds second NBA season, he concluded the regular season by averaging 8.4 points per game, superior to the 6.8 points he averaged per game his rookie year. In this year’s playoffs, Wallace is averaging 5.5 points per game.
For Minnesota, Randle has struggled with the Timberwolves since being traded by the Knicks as he’s decreased from an average of 24-plus points per game with the Knicks the last four years, to an average of just 18.7 points per game this year.
However, this postseason, Randle is having a stronger, more efficient impact compared to the two postseasons that he competed in as a member of the Knicks, averaging 23.9 points per game in the first two rounds, which is much better than his average of 18 points per game in the 2021 playoffs and his average of 16.6 points per game in the 2023 playoffs.
Dillingham hasn’t had the opportunity that he was hoping for this season, playing an average of just 10.5 minutes over the course of 49 games played. While this may be unfortunate for all the Kentucky fans who will be tuned in, the rookie guard likely won’t see the court unless Minnesota has an undoubtedly firm grasp on any of the games.
Moving on to the east, Jackson has only played in five games this season and will not be suiting up for the Eastern Conference Finals, as he sustained a torn right Achilles tendon early in the season on Nov. 1 in the Pacers 125-118 loss to the New Orleans Pelicans. Although the big man hasn’t been able to help Indiana on the floor, a Pacers championship win would still reward Jackson with some hardware.
Last but not least, Towns has been rock solid for the Knicks, finishing with a regular season average of 24.4 points per game, while averaging 19.8 points per game in these playoffs thus far. Out of the five postseasons that Towns has taken place in, this year is statistically the second-best scoring one that he has had as it stands currently, trailing slightly behind his average of 21.8 points per game during the 2022 playoffs with the Timberwolves.
The Thunder-Timberwolves series tips-off on Tuesday, May 20, at 8:30 p.m. ET while the Knicks-Pacers series kicks off on Wednesday, May 21, at 8 p.m. ET.
All in all, at least one former Kentucky Wildcat will be cemented as an NBA Champion, shining light and stacking another accolade on to one of the most prestigious college basketball schools in the nation.
