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Hoos in the NBA Playoffs: Five Former UVA Basketball Players Make Postseason

Matt Newton

David Richard-Imagn Images
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The 2025 NBA Playoffs are upon us. The postseason will begin with the NBA SoFi Play-In Tournament from Tuesday through Friday, during which the 7-10 seeds in the Eastern and Western Conference will battle for the final spots in the NBA Playoffs, which will begin on Saturday. Including the play-in teams, there are a total of five former Virginia men's basketball players who are on the active rosters of teams competing in the NBA Postseason.

Before we dive in, let's take a look at the bracket for the 2025 NBA Postseason:

Official bracket for the 2025 NBA Postseason
NBA

Starting with the Western Conference, two former Virginia teammates will face each other in the 7th place vs. 8th place game on Tuesday night. Former Wahoo center Jay Huff is on the bench for the 8th place Memphis Grizzlies. Huff hasn't gotten significant playing time for the Grizzlies in the final couple of months of the regular season, but he did have a great performance in the season finale, recording 22 points, six rebounds, six blocks, two assists, and two steals in a 132-97 victory for Memphis over Dallas on Sunday.

Huff's former UVA teammate Braxton Key was just added to the playoff roster of the Golden State Warriors, who converted Key's two-way deal into a standard NBA contract on Sunday, making him eligible for the postseason. It's unlikely that Key will see the floor much, but after winning this year's G League Defensive Player of the Year Award, it's possible that the Warriors put him in for spot defensive possessions.

The Golden State Warriors will host the Memphis Grizzlies on Tuesday at 10pm ET (TNT) in San Francisco. The winner of that game will earn the No. 7 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and will take on the No. 2 seed Houston Rockets in a best-of-seven first round series. The loser of the play-in game will have one more opportunity to make the playoffs, hosting the winner of the 9th place vs. 10th place game between the Sacramento Kings and the Dallas Mavericks (Wednesday at 10pm ET on ESPN) in another play-in elimination game on Friday night. The winner of that game will get the No. 8 seed in the Western Conference playoffs and will face the No. 1 seed Oklahoma City Thunder in the first round.

Over in the Eastern Conference, there are two former Virginia basketball stars playing for the top seed team and another former Wahoo playing for the No. 2 seed.

The No. 1 seed Cleveland Cavaliers have one of the best bench units in the league thanks to a breakout season from Ty Jerome, who is averaging career-highs in points (12.5 ppg) and three-point shooting (43.9%), as well as the trade deadline acquisition of De'Andre Hunter, who has averaged 14.3 points per game and shot a career-best 42.6% from beyond the arc in 27 games since joining the Cavs. Of course, Jerome and Hunter won the 2019 NCAA National Championship for the Virginia Cavaliers and are now looking to win an NBA Championship as Cleveland Cavaliers.

The Cavs finished the regular season 64-18 and will await the results of the Play-In Tournament to tell them who their opponent will be in the first round. They could face any of the Orlando Magic, Atlanta Hawks, Chicago Bulls, or Miami Heat in that best-of-seven first round series.

Finally, the No. 2 seed and reigning NBA Champion Boston Celtics are still benefiting from the three-point services of former Virginia sharpshooter Sam Hauser, who averaged 8.5 points per game this season and shot better than 40% from beyond the arc (41.6%) for the fourth season in a row. Hauser and the Celtics are also waiting to see who they will face in the first round. Boston's opponent will be the winner of the 7th place vs. 8th place game between the Atlanta Hawks and Orlando Magic on Tuesday at 7:30pm ET (TNT).

Former Virginia basketball players whose teams did not make the NBA postseason:

  • Reece Beekman, Brooklyn Nets
  • Trey Murphy III, New Orleans Pelicans
  • Ryan Dunn, Phoenix Suns
  • Malcolm Brogdon, Washington Wizards
  • Anthony Gill, Washington Wizards

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Matt Newton
MATT NEWTON

Matt launched Virginia Cavaliers On SI in August of 2021 and has since served as the site's publisher and managing editor, covering all 23 NCAA Division I sports teams at the University of Virginia. He is from Downingtown, Pennsylvania and graduated from UVA in May of 2021.