Kentucky Sports Radio

Recently, the NBA has been a hot button topic within the Commonwealth’s borders.  There are numerous online support groups calling for professional basketball’s return to Louisville and a handful of national sites think it’s a plausible plan too.  Even Forbes.com’s Darren Heitner wrote an article a few weeks ago demonstrating the pros and cons of an NBA franchise coming to Louisville.  While professional basketball returning to Kentucky would be fantastic (in my mind), we’re stuck without an NBA team for the foreseeable future.  This lack of a local professional team to cheer for is a contributing factor to why most fans keep up with the players who went on to careers in professional basketball.  Currently, 17 former Kentucky players find themselves active on an NBA roster, most of which are having excellent seasons.  Below is a chart containing their per-game statistics and an efficiency metric similar in nature to Player Efficiency Rating.

Some Notes:

-Marquis Teague has been experiencing ups and downs in recent weeks.  After his 8 point performance against Brooklyn on December 15th, he only logged 7 total minutes the following three games.  However, in his past five games, Teague is averaging 4 points while playing 10.6 minutes per game.

-After sitting the bench for 20 consecutive games, Josh Harrellson finally checked in for Miami on December 29th, logging 18 minutes.  He scored 5 points on 2/5 shooting in a 85-104 blowout loss to the Bucks.

-Despite only playing 4 of the last 6 games for Sacramento due to disciplinary issues, DeMarcus Cousins is still having a phenomenal season.  After returning from suspension, Cousins has averaged 16.5 points and 12.5 rebounds per game.  Even more impressive, on December 30th against the Celtics, Cousins dished out 10 assists in addition to his 12 points and 10 rebounds.

-Terrence Jones and Darius Miller were both sent to the D-League last week.  During their time on NBA rosters this season, they’ve respectively averaged 3.1 and 2.0 points per game.

-In the Lakers’ past five games, Jodie Meeks has only connected on 26.9% (7-26) of his shots from beyond the perimeter.  However he made up for his recent sub-par shooting with this no look lay-up against the 76ers.