Only 1% of Division I college players make the NBA, so just sitting on an NBA bench in the playoffs is a huge accomplishment. The following are the 38 players who were on one of the all-time great college teams featured in our Value Add Basketball Game AND were on the floor for one of the last few NBA games as one of the 16 teams still alive.
The earliest team represented is the 2006 Florida Gators with Al Horford still playing for the No. 1 seed Boston Celtics. Two of the all-time greats from 2007 teams in our game put up amazing numbers 17 years later with Kevin Durant of Texas putting up 25 points and Mike Conley of Ohio State having 15 points and seven assists for the Minnesota Timberwolves.
Obviously it is more likely a more recent team will still have players in the NBA, and the 2018 and 2019 NCAA champs from Villanova and Virginia are the only two all-time great college teams with three players alive in the NBA playoffs. The best of those is Nova's Jalen Brunson who just put up 39 points and 13 assists.
The other great teams in our game with two players still alive in the NBA playoffs are UCLA 2008 (Kevin Love and Russell Westbrook still under the big lights 16 years later), Marquette 2011 (Jae Crowder and Jimmy Butler), Iowa State 2014 (Monte Morris and Georges Niang) and finally UConn 2023 (already Jordan Hawkins and Andre Jackson since most stayed around for the 2024 title run).
Some players just got on the court (0 points), others did not get in the game either because they were injured (Jimmy Butler) or just didn't get on the rotation, but all of these are in the elite group that is coming out to warm up as one of the remaining 16 NBA Playoff teams and a member of an all-time great college team in our game.
The first 230 All-time great teams have already played at least one games, leaving only our 25th greatest player of all time John Stockton with his 1984 Gonzaga against the 2024 Grand Canyon team with Danny Wolf, and our 48th greatest player of all time Gary Payton leading his 1990 Oregon State team against the Yale 2024 team and Tyon Grant-Foster.
While this is not as issue for the players alive in the playoffs below since they all played witha. College 3-point line, you will notice we include 3-point shots even for players who played before the line was there. This was estimated in various ways such as later mapping of Pistol Pete Maravich's shots to see which would have been 3-pointers to Stockton's card above based on him hitting more than 40 percent if his 3-pointers in 7 NBA seasons from the deeper line.
| Team in Game | Year | Player | NBA Playoff Team | Last Playoff Game |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Florida | 2006 | Al Horford | Boston Celtics | 9 pts, 6 reb, +15 |
| Ohio State | 2007 | Mike Conley | Minnesota Timberwolves | 15 pts, 4 reb, 7 ast |
| Texas | 2007 | Kevin Durant | Phoenix Suns | 25 pts, 4 reb, 5 ast |
| Stanford | 2008 | Brook Lopez | Milwaukee Bucks | 14 pts, 4 reb |
| UCLA | 2008 | Kevin Love | Miami Heat | 2 reb |
| UCLA | 2008 | Russell Westbrook | Los Angeles Clippers | 1 pt, 3 reb |
| Arizona State | 2009 | James Harden | Los Angeles Clippers | 21 pts, 5 ast |
| Butler | 2010 | Gordon Hayward | Oklahoma City Thunder | 4 reb |
| Weber State | 2010 | Damian Lillard | Milwaukee Bucks | 28 pts, 8 ast |
| Duke | 2010 | Mason Plumlee | Los Angeles Clippers | 7 pts |
| Marquette | 2011 | Jimmy Butler | Miami Heat | did not play |
| Marquette | 2011 | Jae Crowder | Milwaukee Bucks | 0 pts |
| San Diego State | 2011 | Kawhi Leonard | Los Angeles Clippers | 7 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast |
| Kentucky | 2012 | Anthony Davis | Los Angeles Lakers | 33 pts, 15 reb |
| Creighton | 2014 | Doug McDermott | Indiana Pacers | did not play |
| Iowa State | 2014 | Monté Morris | Minnesota Timberwolves | 2 pts |
| Iowa State | 2014 | Georges Niang | Cleveland Cavaliers | 2 pts |
| Oklahoma | 2016 | Buddy Hield | Philadelphia 76ers | 0 pts |
| SMU | 2017 | Shake Milton | New York Knicks | did not play |
| Oregon | 2017 | Payton Pritchard | Boston Celtics | 7 pts, 3 reb |
| Villanova | 2018 | Jalen Brunson | New York Knicks | 39 pts, 13 ast |
| Villanova | 2018 | Donte DiVincenzo | New York Knicks | 5 reb, 4 pts |
| Villanova | 2018 | Collin Gillespie | Denver Nuggets | 0 pts |
| Virginia | 2019 | Mamadi Diakite | New York Knicks | did not play |
| Virginia | 2019 | Jay Huff | Denver Nuggets | 0 pts |
| Virginia | 2019 | Braxton Key | Denver Nuggets | 0 pts |
| Auburn | 2019 | Chuma Okeke | Orlando Magic | 3 pts |
| Dayton | 2020 | Obi Toppin | Indiana Pacers | 15 pts, 6 reb |
| Iowa | 2021 | Luka Garza | Minnesota Timberwolves | 0 pts |
| UCLA | 2021 | Jaime Jaquez | Miami Heat | 12 pts, 5 reb, 5 ast |
| USC | 2021 | Evan Mobley | Cleveland Cavaliers | 14 pts, 9 reb |
| Duke | 2022 | Paolo Banchero | Orlando Magic | 9 pts, 4 reb, 5 ast |
| Kansas | 2022 | Christian Braun | Denver Nuggets | 5 pts, 2 reb |
| Duke | 2022 | Wendell Moore | Minnesota Timberwolves | 0 pts |
| Connecticut | 2023 | Jordan Hawkins | New Orleans Pelicans | 1 reb |
| Connecticut | 2023 | Andre Jackson | Milwaukee Bucks | 2 pts, 3 reb |
| Michigan | 2023 | Caris LeVert | Cleveland Cavaliers | 5 pts, 1 reb |
| Gonzaga | 2023 | Julian Strawther | Denver Nuggets | did not play |
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