Two Former UCLA Players Headed to NBA Finals
Former UCLA players Kevin Love and Peyton Watson are competing for NBA teams that have advanced to this season's NBA Finals – Love with the Miami Heat and Watson with the Denver Nuggets.
Love will be making his fifth career appearance in the NBA Finals. His previous four trips took place with the Cleveland Cavs. Love, in his 15th NBA season, has averaged 6.9 points and 5.8 rebounds in 16 postseason games this year with Miami, the No. 8-seeded team in the Eastern Conference. He was part of Cleveland's championship team in 2016 before helping the Cavs return to the NBA Finals in 2017 and 2018.
Watson and the Denver Nuggets have advanced to the NBA Finals in his rookie season. A first-round draft selection last summer after his freshman season at UCLA, Watson played in 23 regular-season games for Denver this year. He has seen action in four postseason games for Denver, the No. 1-seeded team in the Western Conference.
UCLA's program has seen a former player advance with his NBA team to the NBA Finals 70 times – including Love and Watson this season. Six former UCLA players have led their respective NBA squads to at least two NBA titles six times. Love could become the seventh former UCLA player to have won at least two NBA titles, as he played for the Cleveland Cavs' title-winning team in 2016.
UCLA's six former players to have won at least two NBA titles include Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (six titles), Jamaal Wilkes (four titles), Kevon Looney (three titles), Willie Naulls (three titles), Jordan Farmar (two titles) and Bill Walton (two titles).
The upcoming NBA Finals, between Denver and Miami, will mark the first NBA championship series with at least one former UCLA player on each team since 2019. Norman Powell helped the Toronto Raptors to the 2019 NBA title in a six-game series against the Golden State Warriors, featuring Powell's former UCLA teammate Kevon Looney.
The NBA Finals will begin in Denver on Thursday, June 1. Game time is 5:30 p.m. PT (8:30 p.m. ET). All of this season's NBA Finals contests will be nationally televised on ABC.