BATON ROUGE – What may well be the largest single season contingent of former LSU players will be on the rosters of NBA teams when the league season begins on Tuesday night with three games.
In all, eight former LSU Tigers are on official NBA rosters as of Monday for the coming season.
The players range from 12-year veteran, Brandon Bass, who only trails Bob Pettit and Shaquille O’Neal in games played by a former Tiger in the NBA, to an undrafted rookie who made the Portland Trailblazers opening night roster.
It will be that rookie, Tim Quarterman, and his team that will showcase the first LSU player on the court as Portland hosts Utah at 8 p.m. CT on NBA League Pass. Quarterman played at LSU for three years, leaving after the 2016 season. He was undrafted, but signed with Charlotte and played for the Hornets on their summer league team. The Blazers signed him to a training camp contract and he has turned it into a roster spot.
The eldest former LSU player is Bass, the 2005 SEC Player of the Year, who will be on the roster for the Los Angeles Clippers. Bass remained in Los Angeles but switched teams going from the Lakers to the Clippers after last season. The Baton Rouge native has played in 706 games trailing only Bob Pettit’s 792 and Shaquille O’Neal who appeared on court in 1,207 contests.
The Clippers will not open play until 8:30 p.m. Thursday at Portland in a game to be broadcast by TNT.
Garrett Temple, who has been a part of the Washington Wizards franchise, begins a new multi-year contract with the Sacramento Kings. The 30-year-old Temple, who is in his seventh season, played a career high 80 games last season for the Wizards. The Kings open the season at Phoenix on Wednesday.
Marcus Thornton, who had success in his career in Sacramento, begins his second season with the Wizards, his eighth in the league. The long-range shooting guard has been bothered by some thumb problems but is expected to be ready when the Wizards open Thursday at Atlanta.
Justin Hamilton returns to the league for his third season after a successful All-Star season in Europe and he will be used by the Brooklyn Nets at the center and power forward positions. The Nets open up against Jordan Mickey and the Boston Celtics on Wednesday night.
The majority of Mickey’s rookie season was spent in Maine with the Celtics D-League team, but he was able to make a name for himself while getting plenty of playing time. Limited to just 16 games last year in Boston, he has turned a few heads during the preseason and is doing a good job looking for his minutes at the power forward position.
Mickey’s teammate at LSU, Jarell Martin, is also in his second season at Memphis after an injury-filled rookie season that limited him to 27 games. He is still battling foot problems and media is reporting that after playing just one preseason game, Martin will not play on Wednesday in the opener against Minnesota.
Of course, the big start of this year’s NBA Draft class, Ben Simmons, the national freshman of the year from LSU and the top pick of the Philadelphia 76ers is out indefinitely after suffering a foot injury in an early season practice. His 76ers are schedule to host Oklahoma City on Wednesday night in what was going to be Simmons’ first official game as a professional.
Follow the league at NBA.com and LSUsports.net will update LSU players in the NBA at various points during the season.