Aggies Basketball: Khris Middleton Is An NBA Champion
The long journey that is the NBA Finals is now done. And one team is left standing, the Milwaukee Bucks. But more importantly for Texas A&M basketball fans, Aggie Khris Middleton is an NBA Champion.
Middleton was a key piece to the Bucks' run, at some points even outplaying two-time League MVP and teammate Giannis Antetokounmpo.
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How great of a postseason did Middleton have? Per ESPN Stats & Info, this great:
- Middleton has made 15 game-tying or go-ahead shots in the 4th-quarter/OT this postseason. That’s tied with LeBron James (2007) for the most in a single playoffs in the last 25 seasons.
- Antetokounmpo and Middleton join Dwyane Wade and LeBron James in 2012 as the only pair of teammates to each have 500 points and 100 assists in a single postseason.
- Antetokounmpo and Middleton are the 3rd pair of teammates (4th instance) over the last 50 years to each have a 40-point game in a single NBA Finals. The others are LeBron James/Kyrie Irving and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar/Magic Johnson.
- Middleton is the first second-round pick in NBA history to score 500 points in a single postseason.
Looking back at his time playing with the Aggies, Middleton was good, but not great.
He was drafted 39th overall in the second round of the 2012 NBA Draft by the Detroit Pistons.
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Many times, players drafted in that position bounce around the league struggling to find a role, or hop around the Developmental League or play overseas.
But nine years later, Middleton is a two-time NBA All-Star playing through a five-year $177 million contract, and helping his team to an NBA title. Next, he heads to Tokyo to play on the US Olympic basketball team.
He might not have shown it in college, but Middleton is arguably the best player ever to come out of the Aggies' basketball program.
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