BATON ROUGE, La. – Seven former LSU Tiger basketball players are on opening week rosters as the National Basketball Association begins its 2024-25 season on Tuesday night.
One of the more popular players in the league, especially in Minnesota, will take to the court on opening night Tuesday when Naz Reid and the Minnesota Timberwolves take on the Los Angeles Lakers at 9 p.m. CT in a game televised on TNT.
Reid, who is in the second year of a three-year contract with the Wolves, was listed as questionable for the regular-season opener due to a shoulder impingement.
Last year Reid, who was part of the Tigers 2009 Sweet 16 NCAA Tournament team at LSU, thrived off the bench and was named the NBA’s Sixth Man of the Year. He became a popular favorite of the Timberwolves fans.
Teams with LSU players starting on Wednesday including Toronto (Garrett Temple), vs Cleveland and, Brooklyn (Cam Thomas, Trendon Watford, Ben Simmons) at Atlanta. Both of those games will have 6:30 p.m. CT tips.
At 7 p.m. Houston (Tari Eason) is at home to take on Charlotte, while Portland (Duop Reath), hosts Golden State at 9 p.m. CT.
Temple has been a mentor to many of the young Raptors and a vocal leader in the locker room as he prepares for his 15th season in the league after playing in the NCAA Final Four as a freshman in 2006 and winning an SEC regular season title in his final year in 2009. He has appeared in 743 NBA games and needs only 16 appearances to pass Brandon Bass for third place among past LSU stars.
Thomas had a breakout season a year ago for the Nets, averaging 22.5 points and 2.9 assists in 66 games. As he enters his fourth NBA season, the first-round draft pick of the Nets (2021 NBA Draft) looking to continue as one of the Nets top offensive threats when he last year became the youngest player in NBA history to score 40 points in three straight games.
Thomas played at LSU one season, 2021-22, averaging 23.0 points a game In earning second team All-America honors.
Joining him on the Nets from LSU are two-year Tigers (2019-21) Trendon Watford and 2016 National Freshman of the Year, Ben Simmons.
Watford is in his fourth season as well in the NBA, playing two years with Portland before joining the Nets last season. Watford has been hampered in the preseason with a left hamstring strain according to media reports.
Simmons has struggled with injuries in his career, but is fully recovered from back surgery and ready to play a full role for the Nets as he enters the last year of a five-year extension that he signed with Philadelphia before being traded to Brooklyn. This will be his seventh year to play in the league.
Eason looks to return from an injury shortened campaign in 2023-24. The 17th pick in the 2022 NBA Draft played a full 82 games in the 2022-23 season before a leg injury limited him to just 22 games a year ago. He averaged 9.3 points as a rookie and 9.8 last season. The 2022 SEC Sixth Man of the Year and honorable mention All-America is expected to be able to play in the season opener.
Reath had the most different path to the NBA after completing his playing time in 2018 after averaging 12.5 points and 5.3 rebounds as a senior, in his second year for the Tigers. Reath played in the Serbian League following his college time for three seasons before playing in his native Australia in the 2021-22 season. He then played in the Chinese Basketball Association and in Lebanon before joining the Trail Blazers for the 2023 NBA Summer League.
He would eventually sign a two-way deal with Portland and debuted on Nov. 12, scoring 11 points. In February of 2024, Portland converted his two-way deal to a standard contract.
Complete NBA schedules are available at NBA.com.
