Clemson Basketball Alum Wins NBA Championship With New York Knicks

It’s not often that the Clemson Tigers see a men’s basketball alumni make an impact with an NBA team on the hardwood, but it happened in the 2025-26 season.

Former center Trey Jamison III was a part of the New York Knicks team that recently won the NBA Finals, taking down the San Antonio Spurs in a 4-1 series win. In just his second season, he can call himself an NBA champion.

Jamison played for the Tigers from 2018-20, sending his first two seasons with the program before transferring closer to home. He would finish his career at UAB, playing his final three seasons with the Blazers before ending up on an NBA roster.

The 6-foot-10, 270-pound big man only started in one game for Clemson across his two seasons with the program, being a bench piece that fell behind in the rotation under head coach Brad Brownell. That led him to going into the transfer portal to go closer to his hometown of Birmingham, Ala.

Jamison finished his sophomore season averaging 1.7 points, 2.0 rebounds and 0.2 blocks a contest, playing about eight minutes a game in 2019-20. His most notable game came in early February 2020, when he played a career-high 30 minute against Notre Dame at Littlejohn Coliseum. He brought in seven offensive rebounds with four being on the offensive side.

The NBA champion also finished with 10 points against Alabama A&M in extended time.

Jamison was a high school standout, being the No. 3 player in Alabama from the Class of 2018, according to 247Sports. Some outlets had him as the best player in the state as well. The top 200 player in the class chose the Tigers over Auburn, Alabama and Georgia, among many other schools around the area.

Hailing from Hoover High School, the center was a threat on the glass, finishing his high school career with averages of 15 points, 12 rebounds and four blocks per game. He picked up All-Region honors and also won a state championship in the 2015-16 season.

More of a reserve piece for the Knicks behind Karl-Anthony Towns, Mitchell Robinson and Ariel Hukporti, Jamison finished the season averaging 1.0 points, 1.4 rebounds and a 60% field goal percentage. He played in 13 games for New York this season.

Although he didn’t finish his career with the Tigers, Brownell can say he helped develop a player who went on a NBA championship team, and Jamison will have his name in the history books with being on the roster.

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