Four former LSU players involved in NBA play-in tournament beginning Tuesday

April 11, 2022 Tiger Rag News Services LSU Basketball 0

Former LSU standout Garrett Temple of the New Orleans Pelicans is one of seven former LSU players set to embark on start of NBA's 2022-23 season.

Four former LSU players are expected to be in uniform starting Tuesday when the NBA’s play-in tournament begins for teams finishing 7-10 in both the Eastern and Western Conferences.

On Tuesday, Cleveland and Brooklyn will meet in the Eastern Conference game and the Los Angeles Clippers will face Minnesota in the Western Conference. The winners of those two games will be the seventh seed in their conference in the playoffs.

On Wednesday, the 9-10 teams will play with Charlotte facing Atlanta and the San Antonio Spurs going to New Orleans to face the Pelicans.

The losers on Tuesday will face the winners of Wednesday’s games with the winners Friday night becoming the eighth seed in each conference for the playoffs.

Naz Reid in in his third year with the Timberwolves after playing at LSU on the SEC Championship team and NCAA Sweet 16 team in 2019. This season he played in 77 games, averaging 8.3 points and 3.9 rebounds.

Brooklyn has first-round draft pick Cam Thomas, who was a first-round selection in 2021 after his stellar All-SEC season for the Tigers. He played in 67 games for the Nets and averaged 8.5 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.9 assists. Also, Ben Simmons is now with the Nets after his trade from Philadelphia but is not expected to play in the play-in event.

Skylar Mays is in his second year as a two-way player for Atlanta who had his contract converted to a standard contract on April 7. He has planned in 61 games over his two seasons and this year has averaged 2.9 points.

Garrett Temple, who played at Baton Rouge’s University High, is in his first season with the Pelicans, his 12th in the NBA where he has played 691 games, fourth all-time among former LSU players. That number is topped by only Shaquille O’Neal, Bob Pettit and Brandon Bass. Temple in 2021-22 posted 5.2 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists.

Once the play-in tournament concludes the playoffs will begin on April 16 and 17. Former point guard Javonte Smart was signed to a two-way contract by the Miami Heat, Feb. 15. The Heat is the number one seed in the Eastern Conference.