All Four Former Indiana Players In NBA Postseason Make The Playoff Bracket

The NBA makes things confusing with its Play-In Tournament. It's not officially part of the playoffs, but it's not an extension of the regular season either in the way baseball tiebreakers used to be.

So the Play-In Tournament is the postseason, but not the playoffs, but it's all academic now anyway as far as former Indiana players are concerned.

With Miami's 123-114 overtime victory at Atlanta on Friday, all four former Hoosiers who could have advanced into the playoffs did so.

Former Indiana center Kel'El Ware started for Miami in the contest. He played 22 minutes and was a perfect 6-for-6 from the field. Ware had 12 points and eight rebounds.

Ware was missing, however, when the game was decided. Ware did not play after the third quarter. Miami went with a smaller lineup featuring Tyler Herro, Davion Mitchell, Andrew Wiggins, Haywood Highsmith to go with Bam Adebayo.

Atlanta led by six with five minutes left only to have Miami wipe out the Hawks lead by the three-minute mark. Atlanta's Trae Young made a layup with a second left in regulation to force overtme, but the Heat pulled away in the extra period to advance to the proper playoff bracket from the Play-In Tournament for the third straight season.

Ware and the Heat will now face Eastern Conference No. 1 seed Cleveland. Game 1 of that series begins at 7 p.m. on Sunday and will be broadcast on TNT.

Other former Hoosiers already punched their playoff tickets. Trayce-Jackson Davis and the Golden State Warriors did so on Tuesday.

Golden State won its Play-In Tournament game on Tuesday against Memphis. The Western Conference No. 7-seeded Warriors open their season against No. 2-seeded Houston at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday and it will also be broadcast on TNT.

Jackson-Davis didn't play in Golden State's win against Memphis, but made headlines anyway after teammate Draymond Green pointed out a selfless act Jackson-Davis did for a teammate during the game.

Former Hoosiers Thomas Bryant and OG Anunoby didn't have to worry about surviving the NBA Play-In Tournament. Their teams advanced straight into the playoffs.

Bryant, who played at Indiana from 2015-17, will take part as a member of the Indiana Pacers. The No. 4-seeded Pacers host the Milwaukee Bucks at 1 p.m. on Saturday in an Eastern Conference first round series. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

Bryant was acquired by the Pacers from the Miami Heat on Dec. 15. That trade played a large role in Ware gaining more playing time with the Heat, but it also put Bryant on a playoff-contending team.

Bryant has been valuable in what has mostly been a reserve role in the frontcourt with the Pacers. Bryant has played 56 games, starting eight of them, and has averaged 6.9 points and 3.9 rebounds.

Anunoby also gets his playoff adventure started on Saturday. The No. 3-seeded Knicks play the Detroit Pistons at 6 p.m. on Saturday. The game will be broadcast on ESPN.

Anunoby, who played at Indiana from 2015-17 and was a teammate of Bryant, had a career-best season in 2025 as he started all 74 games he played.

Anunoby averaged a career-high 18 points. He also averaged 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists. He converted 47.6% of his shots, including 37.2% from 3-point range. Anunoby is also an excellent defender and should be up for NBA defensive honors when postseason awards are announced.

Anunoby is working through a right thumb injury. He missed two games late in the season with the injury, but both missed games came after the Knicks’ playoff seed was locked in.

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