BATON ROUGE — The 2009-10 NBA season gets underway Tuesday night and six former LSU men’s basketball players will be on the opening day rosters.
Shaquille O’Neal, the veteran of the LSU group, will start his first season with the Cleveland Cavaliers, while Brandon Bass will also have a new team as he begins playing with the Orlando Magic. Tyrus Thomas is next in NBA seniority with the Chicago Bulls, with Glen Davis continuing with a new contract with the Boston Celtics, Anthony Randolph in his second year with the Golden State Warriors and Marcus Thornton the rookie of the group with the New Orleans Hornets.
On Tuesday’s opening night, Davis and his Celtics will be at O’Neal’s Cleveland debut as the face the Cavaliers in a nationally-televised game on TNT. Davis, a member of the 2008 NBA Champion Celtic team, has averaged 5.8 points in his first 145 games over two years in the league. O’Neal, a 12-time All-Star and a three-time Finals MVP, enters his 18th season in the league and is still averaging 24.7 points and 11.7 rebounds for his career.
Wednesday night, Bass’s fifth year begins in the league at home as his Magic hosts Philadelphia. Bass, the 2005 SEC Player of the Year, played two years each with New Orleans and Dallas before signing with Orlando. Marcus Thornton will make his debut with the New Orleans Hornets as they open on the road at San Antonio in a game televised by ESPN. Thornton was the 2009 SEC Player of the Year helping the Tigers to the 2009 SEC regular season championship.
Also Wednesday, Anthony Randolph will try to parlay his big numbers in the NBA summer league into a strong sophomore campaign as the Golden State Warriors host the Houston Rockets.
The Chicago Bulls with Tyrus Thomas, a member of the 2006 NCAA Final Four team and league freshman of the year, will tip off against San Antonio in Chicago on Thursday night in a game televised on TNT. Thomas enters his fourth year in the league, all with the Bulls, having averaged 7.7 points and 5.5 rebounds in his first 225 games in the league.