With the NBA season starting October 19, it’s time to take a look at the most represented Division I schools.
The 30 NBA teams have room for 17 players. Two of those players are two-way, meaning a maximum of 510 players are in the NBA at the start of a new season.
Surprise, surprise: For the fourth consecutive season, Kentucky and Duke have the most active players in the league.
The Wildcats have a total of 27 players on the starting lineup this year. The headliners of this group are Jamal Murray (Denver Nuggets), Anthony Davis (Los Angeles Lakers) and Devin Booker (Phoenix Suns).
Duke is just behind Kentucky, with 22 players in total on the starting rosters this season. The best players representing the Blue Devils this year in the NBA are Jayson Tatum (Boston Celtics) and Zion Williamson (New Orleans Pelicans). Duke is the only other school with more than 20 active players in the NBA.
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As for other double-digit schools for active NBA players, these are Kansas (13), Texas (13), North Carolina (12), UCLA (12) and USC (10). Last year Arizona and Michigan were part of that group. Arizona now has nine active players in the NBA, while Michigan has eight.
Here is how the players are distributed by school.
The rosters were up to date as of 1 p.m. EST on Oct. 17, 2021, from the team’s official pages on NBA.com.
Colleges with the most players on the 2021-22 NBA rosters
SCHOOL | NUMBER |
---|---|
Kentucky | 27 |
Duke | 22 |
Kansas | 13 |
Texas | 13 |
North Carolina | 12 |
UCLA | 12 |
USC | ten |
Gonzaga | 9 |
Michigan | 9 |
Michigan State | 9 |
Villanova | 9 |
Arizona | 8 |
Oregon | 8 |
Virginia | 8 |
Washington | 8 |
Florida | 7 |
Florida State | 7 |
Indiana | 7 |
State of Iowa | 6 |
Louisville | 6 |
LSU | 6 |
Maryland | 6 |
Tennessee | 6 |
Alabama | 5 |
Arkansas | 5 |
Colorado | 5 |
Ohio state | 5 |
Stanford | 5 |
Syracuse | 5 |
Texas A&M | 5 |
UConn | 5 |
Wake forest | 5 |
Auburn | 4 |
Baylor | 4 |
Georgetown | 4 |
Georgia Tech | 4 |
Marquette | 4 |
Memphis | 4 |
Nevada | 4 |
Oklahoma | 4 |
Vanderbilt | 4 |
Arizona State | 3 |
Georgia | 3 |
Houston | 3 |
Iowa | 3 |
Kansas State | 3 |
Pitt | 3 |
San Diego State | 3 |
SMU | 3 |
TCU | 3 |
UNLV | 3 |
Utah | 3 |
butler | 2 |
From Paul | 2 |
Fresno State | 2 |
Miami (FL) | 2 |
Missouri | 2 |
Murray State | 2 |
NC state | 2 |
Nebraska | 2 |
Oklahoma State | 2 |
Oregon State | 2 |
Caroline from the south | 2 |
Texan technology | 2 |
University of Santa Barbara | 2 |
State of Utah | 2 |
Virginie Tech | 2 |
Washington state | 2 |
Western Kentucky | 2 |
West Virginia | 2 |
Wichita State | 2 |
Wisconsin | 2 |
Belmont | 1 |
Boise State | 1 |
Boston College | 1 |
Bowling green | 1 |
Bucknell | 1 |
Cal | 1 |
Cal Poly | 1 |
Central florida | 1 |
Charleston College | 1 |
Creighton | 1 |
Davidson | 1 |
Dayton | 1 |
Drexel | 1 |
George washington | 1 |
Illinois | 1 |
IUPUI | 1 |
Lehigh | 1 |
Lips | 1 |
Louisiana-Lafayette | 1 |
Louisiana Technology | 1 |
Loyola® | 1 |
Marshal | 1 |
Minnesota | 1 |
Mississippi | 1 |
Mississippi State | 1 |
State of missouri | 1 |
New Mexico | 1 |
State of New Mexico | 1 |
our Lady | 1 |
Oakland | 1 |
Former Domination | 1 |
State of pennsylvania | 1 |
Pepperdine | 1 |
Purdue | 1 |
Purdue-Fort Wayne | 1 |
Radford | 1 |
Saint Joseph | 1 |
Sainte Marie | 1 |
Séton room | 1 |
St. John’s | 1 |
South Carolina-Upstate | 1 |
State of Tennessee | 1 |
Texas-Arlington | 1 |
VCU | 1 |
Xavier | 1 |
Weber State | 1 |
Guillaume and Marie | 1 |
Wyoming | 1 |
Yale | 1 |
Now let’s see how these players are distributed by conference. For the second year in a row, ACC reigns supreme, followed by SEC and Pac-12.
College conferences with the most players on the 2021-22 NBA rosters
CONFERENCE | TOTAL |
---|---|
CAC | 80 |
SECOND | 78 |
Pac-12 | 67 |
Large 12 | 52 |
Big Ten | 47 |
Great East | 30 |
West Mountain | 17 |
American | 13 |
Western coast | 11 |
Atlantic 10 | 5 |
United States Conference | 5 |
Ohio Valley | 4 |
Great West | 3 |
Colonial | 3 |
Horizon | 3 |
Patriot | 3 |
Great South | 2 |
Sun Belt | 2 |
A SUN | 1 |
Big sky | 1 |
Ivy | 1 |
Missouri Valley | 1 |
WAC | 1 |