Four Former UA Players on NBA Opening Night Rosters
10/25/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Oct. 25, 2010
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. - The University of Alabama men's basketball team will be well-represented when the 2010-11 NBA season tips off on Tuesday with four former Crimson Tide student-athletes on NBA rosters.
The Tide's current NBA standouts include Alonzo Gee (San Antonio Spurs), Antonio McDyess (San Antonio Spurs), Gerald Wallace (Charlotte Bobcats) an Mo Williams (Cleveland Cavaliers). Additionally, Keith Askins will return for his 11th season as part of the Miami Heat coaching staff. Askins and the Heat will be the first to tip off the season on Tuesday at 6:30 p.m. CT in Boston.
The four players will begin their respective seasons on Wednesday with 13 total NBA games on the slate including San Antonio vs. Indiana, Boston at Cleveland and Charlotte at Dallas.
McDyess is the most veteran of the Alabama products in the league as he enters his 15th season and his second season in San Antonio. He is joined this season by Alonzo Gee who is poised to play his first full season in the NBA after earning two 10-day contracts with the Washington Wizards last season and garnering NBA D-League Rookie of the Year honors before being signed by the Spurs for the remainder of the season.
Gerald Wallace begins his 10th season in the league and seventh with the Bobcats after becoming the franchise's first NBA All-Star in 2009-10. He is also the franchise's leading all-time scorer with 6,688 points in a Charlotte uniform. Fellow NBA All-Star Mo Williams is in his eighth season in the NBA and will begin his third as a member of the Cavaliers and is the team's top returning scorer this season.
Last season, all four players were part of the NBA Playoffs with the Cavs and Spurs both advancing to the conference quarterfinals. They are also part of the 25 former UA student-athletes that have gone on to play more than 10,000 games in the NBA.
