UCLA Alums Kevin Love, Peyton Watson Facing Off in NBA Finals
No matter who comes out on top, one Bruin will be getting a ring this year.
The Denver Nuggets and Miami Heat will face off in the 2023 NBA Finals starting Thursday, and each team has a representative from UCLA men's basketball. Rookie wing Peyton Watson will suit up for the No. 1 seed Nuggets, while 14-year veteran forward Kevin Love will take the court for the No. 8 seed Heat.
As a result, the Bruins are guaranteed to extend their streak of alumni consecutive NBA titles.
Big man Kevon Looney won with the Golden State Warriors in 2022 and point guard Jrue Holiday won with the Milwaukee Bucks in 2021. Although no Bruins were on the Los Angeles Lakers' 2020 title squad, shooting guard Norman Powell won with the Toronto Raptors in 2019, Looney won with the Warriors in 2018 and 2017 – the latter of which teams also included Matt Barnes – and Love won with the Cleveland Cavaliers in 2016.
Watson is all but guaranteed to come off the bench for the Nuggets, who are still searching for their first-ever title, while Love's role for the more veteran Heat remains up in the air.
Denver selected Watson with the No. 30 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, using a first rounder on the Bruin who spent one year as a reserve in Westwood. As a freshman, Watson averaged just 3.3 points and 2.9 rebounds in 12.7 minutes per game on 32.2% shooting from the field.
Watson was a star during his brief time in the G League – averaging 22.0 points and 6.6 rebounds across seven games with the Grand Rapid Gold – but he played a much smaller role when he was at the NBA level. In 23 games, Watson averaged 3.3 points and 1.6 rebounds in 8.1 minutes per game while shooting 49.2% from the field.
In these playoffs, Watson has only played a total of 13 minutes across four appearances. Watson got time early in Denver's first round series against the Minnesota Timberwolves, plus a few stints as they closed out the Phoenix Suns in round two, but he did not see the floor in the Nuggets' sweep of the Lakers in the Western Conference Finals.
Love, even though he is playing the smallest role of his career to date, has been a key member of the Heat's rotation so far this spring.
It's been a long road for Love, who went to the Timberwolves with the No. 5 overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft after winning Pac-10 Player of the Year and guiding UCLA to a third consecutive Final Four. After ascending to All-Star status at the next level, Love got dealt to the Cavaliers, where he became a veteran mainstay and even helped bring a title to Cleveland.
Love's time in Cleveland ran out this season though, as the team waived him in February. The shooting big man then made his way to Miami, where he immediately slotted into the starting lineup and averaged 7.7 points and 5.7 rebounds in 20.0 minutes per game.
The 34-year-old Love started 14 games in a row for the Heat across three different series, but he did not check in at all for Game 6 or 7 of the Eastern Conference Finals versus the Boston Celtics. Although Love hurt his lower left leg earlier in the series, he was not on the injury report for the two games he missed.
It remains to be seen if Watson or Love will share the court in the Finals – or take the court at all over the next four-to-seven games – but they are both in prime position to become champions this postseason.
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