Top three former Ohio State basketball players in the NBA
By Zane Harris
The Ohio State basketball program has been successful at the college level but they haven’t put a ton of players in the NBA. Here are the top three former Buckeyes in the league right now.
Ohio State is known by many as more of a football school than a basketball school. Despite this, the Buckeyes emerged as a two seed in the NCAA tournament.
While they are a relatively successful basketball program, that success has not quite translated to putting players in the NBA as it has at other schools.
Although there are only four former Buckeyes in the NBA, two of them have made All-Star appearances. Along with this, two former Ohio State players are currently playing in the G-League
Things seem to be on an uptick for the former Ohio State basketball players as well.
One of those players who recently made the league is the honorable mention who did not quite crack the list.
That player being Keita Bates-Diop. Diop spent four years with the Buckeyes.
During this time, he was named a consensus All American, named to the All-Big Ten Team in the 2017-2018 season, and named the Big Ten Player of the Year in the 2017-2018 season.
He proved himself as an elite collegiate scorer in his final season with the Buckeyes. In his senior year, he averaged 19.8 points per game and 19.4 points per game in the regular season.
He finished the regular season ranked 59th in the country in points per game. With the team-oriented style of basketball that Ohio State is known for, having a player this high on the list speaks to his abilities.
Diop is still working for his big break in the NBA. He has only started in three NBA games in his young professional career, all three coming in his rookie season.
He has bounced between three teams in only four seasons. While this paired with Diop bouncing between the NBA and the G-League is not the most promising, he is still young and can turn his career around.
There are three former Ohio State basketball players that have established or have already established themselves as the best Ohio State has to offer.