Read on Twitter
A thread: Syracuse sports nerd info incoming…
After last night’s LAL vs. POR game w/ Carmelo vs. Waiters, I thought: is this the 1st time two former Syracuse players have faced each other in the NBA playoffs? After some serious sleuthing, the answer is (surprisingly?) - YES!
After last night’s LAL vs. POR game w/ Carmelo vs. Waiters, I thought: is this the 1st time two former Syracuse players have faced each other in the NBA playoffs? After some serious sleuthing, the answer is (surprisingly?) - YES!
70 Syracuse basketball players have gone on to become NBA Draft picks. Of those, only 26 have gone on to play for a NBA playoff team. The first former Syracuse player to make the playoffs was Bill Gabor in 1949-1950 with the Syracuse Nationals.
Cont.:
Cont.:
Since then, a former Syracuse player has been in the NBA playoffs in all but 21 years (there was a long drought from 1956-1967). Overall, there have been 30 seasons in which multiple former Syracuse players have been in the NBA playoffs.
Cont.:
Cont.:
The 1991-1992 playoffs featured the most former Syracuse players: 6 - Derrick Coleman (NJN), Rafael Addison (NJN), Sherman Douglas (BOS), Rony Seikaly (MIA), LeRon Ellis (LAC) and Billy Owens (GSW).
Cont.:
Cont.:
There have been 6 NBA playoff teams that have featured more than one former Syracuse player. Coleman & Addison (’92 w/ NJN), Schayes & Seikaly (’97 w/ ORL), Douglas & Seikaly (’98 w/ NJN), Carmelo & Hart (’09 w/ DEN), MCW & Ennis (’15 w/ MIL) and Carmelo & Grant (’18 w/ OKC).
Overall: Despite many trips to the NBA playoffs by former Syracuse players (many with overlapping careers), it has taken 70 years for two to face-off in a NBA playoff series.
I don’t know about you, but if you ask me, that’s a cool piece of trivia.
I don’t know about you, but if you ask me, that’s a cool piece of trivia.
