Where the NBA Players Come From
UConn, Duke, Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, and UCLA lead 119 D-I teams with
the most players on 2007-08
NBA Opening-Day Rosters
Connecticut, Duke, North Carolina, Arizona, Florida, Kentucky, and UCLA top the list of 119 Division I teams that
have at least one former player on 2007-2008 NBA opening-day rosters. UConn leads the way with 13 former players now
on NBA payrolls, with Duke (12), North Carolina (12), Arizona (10), Florida
(10), Kentucky (10), and UCLA
(10) not very far behind the Huskies. CBN has been tracking the origin of NBA players on NBA
opening-day rosters since the 1986-1987 season, and there are four categories of players
in our current list. Those categories are: 1) NBA players that attended Division I colleges; 2)
NBA players that attended
non-Division I colleges; 3) NBA players that did not attend college (high school players); and 4)
Foreign players that have no U.S. college experience. Foreign players that
played for U.S. colleges are shown in the college list rather than the foreign
players list. That explains the discrepancy between the number of foreign players
shown in our list and the larger number of "international players" reported
by the NBA.
The numbers in this list are interesting to compare with those that were
compiled for the 1986-1987 season (see the January 26, 1987 issue of
Basketball Weekly titled "ACC, Big Ten Most Generous with NBA"
by Jim Sukup). Back then there were 23 teams in the NBA (compared with
30
today), there were a total of 301 players on NBA opening-day rosters (compared with 438
on the 2007-08 opening-day list), and there was no list of the number of foreign players in the league
(although several foreign players on those NBA rosters had played for U.S. colleges). UCLA headed the colleges with 9 former players in the NBA, and the
ACC was at the top of the conference list with 34 players on the 1986-87 NBA opening-day
roster list.
Although this sounds like a broken record, the
ACC again leads all conferences in producing NBA players. This season the ACC has
54 former players in the NBA, an average of 4.5 NBA players for each team in the conference,
the same as last year. This season, no conference had every school represented in
the NBA on opening-day rosters, and the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Big Ten,
and Pac-10 each is missing only a single institution with NBA
representation. The SEC, which is the remaining BCS conference, is missing
three schools on NBA opening-day rosters. Seven conferences
(including Independents) have just one team represented in the NBA , and seven conferences have no NBA
players on
2007-08 NBA opening-day rosters. There are 50 foreign players on NBA
opening-day rosters, or 11.4% of the NBA total; 33 players that went straight
from high school to the NBA (7.5%), and 4 players that attended non-Division I
colleges (0.9%). Division I colleges provide the balance of 351 NBA players
(80.1%). Foreign players that played in U.S. colleges are counted under the
appropriate school listing.
If our younger readers are thinking of a long NBA career, the last
table on this page will be of special interest. It shows the number of NBA
players with the corresponding number of years of NBA experience. For
example, there are 63 rookies on opening-day rosters this season that have no NBA
experience, and they make up 14.4% of the total number of NBA players. The first thing that is striking
about the table is
that almost half (46.6%) of NBA players are rookies or have 1, 2, or 3 years of
NBA experience. Are you convinced that you will have a long, productive
NBA career? This is very unlikely because only 44 players (10.0%) on 2007-08 NBA
opening-day rosters have more than 10 years of NBA experience, and only 3
have 15 or more years of NBA experience! Player turnover in
the NBA is fast and furious, and only exceptional talent lasts in the NBA for
any length of time. Dikembe Mutombo of the Houston Rockets is the lone elder
statesman in the NBA this season. This Georgetown product has 16 years
of NBA experience, is 41 years of age, and is 4 years older than San Antonio's
Robert Horry, the second-oldest NBA player. Our annual "tip of the hat" is due
him for his NBA longevity. Don't
expect Mutombo to be around for many more years, as the grind of the
82-game NBA season catches up with all players sooner or later.
The average NBA player at the start
of the 2007-08 season was 26.91 years
old and had 4.70 years of NBA experience. Players on the San Antonio Spurs averaged 30.64 years of age, making them the
oldest of all NBA teams. The Spurs average 6.64 years of NBA playing experience,
tops in this category for all 30 NBA teams. The
Portland Trailblazers have the youngest average age in the NBA, 24.07 years this season. The
Trailblazers also have the lowest average of NBA
playing experience at 2.73 years. It will be interesting to
keep an eye on these teams throughout the season to see how well these
figures compare compare with wins and losses at the end of this NBA season.
The following lists are based upon NBA Opening-Day rosters for the 2007-08
season, which was October 30, 2007. The
conference list includes only current school affiliations for the
2007-08 season. Team and conference lists include players on the active
NBA roster list (12 active players are allowed per NBA team at any given
time) and inactive list (maximum of 3 inactive players allowed). There were 78 players on the inactive list at the start of the 2007-08 NBA season.
Copyright © 2008 by Collegiate Basketball News Co. All Rights Reserved.
Players Avg. No. NBA
Conference (# teams) in NBA Players/Team
Atlantic Coast (12) 54 4.5
Pacific 10 (10) 45 4.5
Big East (16) 55 3.4
Southeastern (12) 41 3.4
Big Ten (11) 34 3.1
Big 12 (12) 36 3.0
Mountain West (9) 13 1.4
Atlantic 10 (14) 16 1.1
Conference USA (12) 13 1.1
Western Athletic(9) 9 1.0
West Coast (8) 5 0.6
Missouri Valley (10) 5 0.5
Mid-American (12) 5 0.4
Sun Belt (13) 4 0.3
Colonial (12) 3 0.3
Big Sky (9) 2 0.2
Southern (11) 2 0.2
Southland (11) 2 0.2
Patriot (8) 1 0.1
Big West (9) 1 0.1
Southwestern (10) 1 0.1
Horizon (10) 1 0.1
Ohio Valley (11) 1 0.1
Mid-Eastern (11) 1 0.1
Independents (15) 1 0.1
Big South (8) 0 0.0
Atlantic Sun (8) 0 0.0
Northeast (11) 0 0.0
Ivy League (8) 0 0.0
Summit (8) 0 0.0
Metro Atlantic (10) 0 0.0
America East (9) 0 0.0
Total Division I 351
Foreign* 50
High School 33
Non-Division I 4
Total NBA 438
*Note: # foreign players does not include those that played in U.S. colleges
No. Players
School In NBA
Connecticut 13
Duke 12
North Carolina 12
Arizona 10
Florida 10
Kentucky 10
UCLA 10
Kansas 8
Michigan St. 8
Georgia Tech 7
Texas 7
LSU 6
Maryland 6
Memphis 6
Stanford 6
Syracuse 6
Alabama 5
California 5
DePaul 5
Georgetown 5
Oklahoma St. 5
Florida St. 4
Illinois 4
Iowa 4
Missouri 4
Notre Dame 4
Ohio St. 4
UNLV 4
Villanova 4
Wake Forest 4
Washington 4
Arizona St. 3
Arkansas 3
Boston College 3
Cincinnati 3
Fresno St. 3
Gonzaga 3
Houston 3
Marquette 3
Michigan 3
Minnesota 3
Nebraska 3
Nevada 3
Oregon 3
Providence 3
Purdue 3
Saint Joseph's 3
South Carolina 3
Southern Cal 3
Utah 3
Wisconsin 3
Xavier 3
Baylor 2
Bradley 2
Colorado 2
Creighton 2
Florida Int. 2
Georgia 2
Massachusetts 2
Miami-FL 2
Miami-OH 2
New Mexico 2
N. C. St. 2
Pittsburgh 2
Rhode Island 2
Rice 2
Seton Hall 2
South Florida 2
Temple 2
Texas A&M 2
Wyoming 2
Auburn 1
Austin Peay 1
Ball St. 1
Boise St. 1
Bowling Green 1
Central Michigan 1
Clemson 1
Colgate 1
Colorado St. 1
Col. Charleston 1
CS Fullerton 1
Detroit 1
Drexel 1
Duquesne 1
Eastern Wash. 1
Florida A&M 1
Fordham 1
Hawaii 1
Hofstra 1
Indiana 1
Iowa St. 1
Jackson St. 1
La Salle 1
La.-Lafayette 1
Louisiana Tech 1
Louisville 1
Mississippi St. 1
Northeastern 1
Oklahoma 1
Oregon St. 1
Penn St. 1
Pepperdine 1
Portland St. 1
Rutgers 1
Saint Louis 1
Santa Clara 1
SMU 1
Southern Ill. 1
St. John's 1
TCU 1
Texas St. 1
Texas Tech 1
Texas-San Ant. 1
Tulsa 1
UALR 1
Utah Valley St. 1
Virginia 1
Western Carolina 1
Total Division I 351
Avg. Avg.
NBA Team Exp. Age
Atlanta 3.87 25.51
Boston 5.14 26.90
Charlotte 4.20 26.62
Chicago 3.47 25.72
Cleveland 5.20 27.15
Dallas 6.00 27.82
Denver 5.40 27.46
Detroit 5.73 27.65
Golden State 3.93 25.42
Houston 5.07 28.26
Indiana 3.80 26.37
LA Clippers 6.60 28.86
LA Lakers 4.53 25.90
Memphis 3.71 25.87
Miami 5.73 28.26
Milwaukee 3.67 26.49
Minnesota 4.40 26.39
New Jersey 6.14 28.43
New Orleans 4.43 27.04
New York 4.80 26.22
Orlando 5.80 27.52
Philadelphia 3.53 25.73
Phoenix 6.46 29.04
Portland 2.87 24.07
Sacramento 4.53 26.59
San Antonio 6.64 30.64
Seattle 3.57 25.38
Toronto 3.67 27.70
Utah 3.57 25.61
Washington 4.46 26.61
NBA Average 4.70 26.91
No. Years NBA No. NBA Cumulative
Experience Players Percentage
0 63 0.144
1 54 0.267
2 49 0.379
3 38 0.466
4 38 0.553
5 29 0.619
6 33 0.694
7 26 0.753
8 21 0.801
9 26 0.861
10 17 0.900
11 17 0.938
12 12 0.966
13 7 0.982
14 5 0.993
15 2 0.998
16 1 1.000
Total 438
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