BATON ROUGE – Three former LSU Tiger basketball players begin play this weekend as the 2025 NBA Playoffs begin with the round of eight in each division.
Naz Reid and the Minnesota Timberwolves, Tari Eason and the Houston Rockets and Ben Simmons and the Los Angeles Clippers will be in action this weekend in opening round contests.
The Clippers get the playoffs started on Saturday at 2:30 p.m. on ESPN against the Denver Nuggets. Simmons played for the Tigers during the 2015-16 and was the national freshman of the year. He joined the Clippers as part of his sometimes turbulent career earlier in the 2025 portion of the NBA season.
Naz Reid had another strong season for the Timberwolves and who reached the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament with the Tigers in 2018-19, will be in action when Minnesota takes on the Los Angeles Lakers in the prime time game on Saturday on ABC. Reid has appeared in 16 NBA Playoff contests in his career.
Tari Eason, who was the SEC Sixth Man of the Year in his 2021-22 season with the Tigers, will be with the Rockets when they take on the Golden State Warriors in a Sunday 8:30 p.m. game on TNT. Eason will be making his playoff debut with the Rockets, who are making the playoffs for the first time since the 2019-20 season.