Players from Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, and UCLA lead list of colleges with most former players on 2019-20 NBA Opening-Day Rosters; Pac-12 averages 5.6 former players per conference school in NBA



Former players from Kentucky, Duke, North Carolina, and UCLA head the list of 128 Division I colleges that have one or more former players on 2019-20 NBA opening-day rosters, which was Tuesday, October 22, 2019. Kentucky had 29 former players on 2019-20 NBA opening-day rosters, Duke had 24, North Carolina had 14, and UCLA had 13. Those teams have been near the top of the list for nearly a decade. The 29 former players Kentucky had in the NBA on 2019-20 opening-day rosters is the second-largest number for any college since this list was first compiled on a yearly basis over 30 years ago. The Wildcats had 31 players on the 2018-19 opening-day roster. Completing the list of teams with double-digit NBA players on opening-day rosters are Arizona, Kansas, and Texas, with 11 players each and Michigan with 10. Indiana, Iowa State, USC, Villanova, and Washington each have 8 former players on the list. The top 8 schools supply 123 players, or nearly 25%, of all NBA players on the opening-day list. That is worth about 7-1/2 teams' worth of NBA players, using a 16-player active NBA roster.

Collegiate Basketball News' Jim Sukup has been tracking the origin of players on NBA opening-day rosters since the 1986-1987 season. There are four categories of players on the current list: 1) NBA players that attended Division I colleges; 2) NBA players that attended non-Division I colleges, including junior colleges; 3) NBA players that went from U.S. high schools to the NBA without attending college; and 4) Foreign players that had no U.S. college experience. Foreign players that played for U.S. or Canadian colleges are shown on the college list rather than on the foreign players list. That explains the discrepancy between the number of foreign players shown on this list and the larger number of "international players" that are reported by the NBA or are found on other lists.

It is quite interesting to compare the data on the current list with the list that was compiled for the 1986-1987 season (see the January 26, 1987 issue of Basketball Weekly titled "ACC, Big Ten Most Generous with NBA", by Jim Sukup). Back then there were 23 teams in the NBA (compared with 30 today), there were a total of 301 players on NBA opening-day rosters (compared with 496 on the 2019-20 opening-day roster list), and there was no list of the number of foreign players in the league (although several foreign players on those NBA rosters had played for U.S. colleges). UCLA then headed the list of colleges with 9 former players in the NBA, and the ACC was at the top of the conferences with 34 players on that opening-day roster list.

The ACC heads the list of conferences for the ninth consecutive year in producing the most NBA players, with 83 this season. However, that does not lead the list of conferences with the best average number of former players per conference school. That honor belongs to the Pac-12, which had 67 players on opening-day rosters for an average of 5.6 former players per conference school. The ACC is next with an average of 5.5 former players per team. Then comes the SEC with 71 players and an average of 5.1 former players per team. The Big 12 is 4th with 44 former players in the NBA with an average of 4.4 former players per school, the Big Ten had 42 former players in the NBA for an average of 3.0 players per school, and the Big East had 26 players for a 2.6 average. That is followed by the American, which had 20 former players in the NBA for 1.7 players per school, and the Mountain West, which had 16 former players in the NBA for a 1.5 average. The Pac-12, Big 12, and SEC are the three conferences that had at least one former player from each member school on 2019-20 opening-day rosters. The ACC had 14 of 15 schools with former players on NBA opening-day rosters this season, the Big East had 9 of 10, the Big Ten had 12 of 14, the American had 9 of 12, and the Mountain West had 8 of 11. Rounding out the conferences that had from 5 to 2 teams with former players on NBA rosters are the Atlantic 10 which had 5 of 14 schools represented; the Ohio Valley (4 of 12); the Horizon, Patriot, and Colonial (3 of 10 each); Conference USA (4 of 14); Big South (3 of 11); Atlantic Sun and Big West (2 of 9 each); and the Missouri Valley and the West Coast (each with 2 of 10 schools with former players on 2019-20 NBA opening-day rosters). Seven conferences had 1 school with a former player representing their conference in the NBA, and 6 conferences had no former players on 2019-20 NBA opening-day rosters.

There were 61 foreign players on 2019-20 NBA opening-day rosters that did not play for U.S. colleges, or 12.3% of the NBA total. That is 4 fewer foreign players than last season and 12 fewer than for the 2017-18 season. A total of 14 current NBA players went from high schools to the NBA (2.8% of the NBA total), which is one fewer than last season and up from 10 players in the 2017-18 season. That figure includes players who did not go to college but played overseas or worked out for a year on their own before the NBA draft. Just one NBA player attended a non-Division I college. Division I colleges provide a total of 420 NBA players (84.7%). Foreign players that played at U.S. colleges are counted under the appropriate Division I school listing.

The average NBA player at the start of the 2019-20 season was 25.83 years old, compared with 26.13 years old last season, 26.38 years old in 2017-18, 26.75 in 2016-17 and 26.86 in 2015-16. That lesser age this season is due to there being 100 players this season with no NBA experience. The average NBA player had 4.08 years of NBA experience at the beginning of this season, compared to 4.33 years last season, 4.37 years n 2017-18, 4.85 years in 2016-17, and 4.96 in both 2015-16 and 2014-15. Players on the Houston Rockets averaged 29.48 years of age at the beginning of this season, making them the oldest of all 30 NBA teams, and they averaged 7.53 years of NBA playing experience, which also leads this category. The Phoenix Suns are the youngest team in the league, averaging 24.39 years of age. Players on the Boston Celtics have an average of 2.41 years of NBA experience, the least in the league.

Young basketball players that believe they might have a long NBA career should take a look at the second-to-last table on this page because it contains some unforgiving data. This table shows the number of NBA players with the corresponding number of years of NBA experience. For example, there are 100 rookie players on opening-day rosters this season that had no NBA experience, and they make up 20.2% of the total of the 496 NBA players on opening-day rosters. That is one out of every five NBA players! Over half (279, or 56.3%) of NBA players are rookies or have only 1, 2, or 3 years of NBA playing experience, and 90.5% of NBA players have 10 or fewer years of experience. Are you convinced that you, a relative, or someone you know will have a long, productive NBA career? This is very unlikely because only 46 players (9.3%) on 2019-20 NBA opening-day rosters have more than 10 years of NBA experience, and only 10 have 15 or more years of NBA experience! No players have 19 or 20 years of experience this season, and only one, Vince Carter of the Atlanta Hawks, has 21 years of experience.

Player turnover in the NBA is ongoing, and one only needs to look at the roster of your favorite NBA team and compare it to that of last season to underscore this fact. Only exceptional talent lasts in the NBA for any length of time. As noted above, Vince Carter of the Atlanta Hawks has the most experience of NBA players this season. Who is the oldest current player in the league? Carter was born on 1/26/77, and in addition to being the oldest player, he is also the last remaining NBA player born in the 1970's, with the next closest being two players who were born in 1980. We salute Carter for his outstanding NBA longevity. He announced this season will be his last, and if he plays in the year 2020, he will be the only NBA player to play in four decades. Enjoy all of the old guys in the league while you can, because they will be gone before you know it.

The last table on this page lists NBA coaches as of 2019-20 opening-day rosters and the colleges that they attended. There were no NBA coaching changes from the beginning of the 2016-17 season to the beginning of the 2017-18 season, there were 9 teams that had new coaches at the beginning of the 2018-19 season, and there are 7 NBA teams with new coaches this season. Arizona, Marquette, Kentucky, and and San Diego head the list of schools providing NBA coaches, with 2 each. Note that four NBA coaches attended college at non-Division I institutions.

The following lists are based upon NBA Opening-Day rosters for the 2019-20 season, which was Tuesday, October 22, 2019. The conference list includes only current school affiliations for the 2019-20 season. Team and conference lists include players on the active NBA roster list (12 or 13 active) along with two-way players, which are players that play for both their NBA teams and their D-League affiliates. Other players may be on the inactive list, thus the average of 16.53 players per NBA team on 2019-20 opening-day rosters.

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