How former Colorado standouts did in the NBA this season

While far from a traditional power in the sport, and having not advanced to a Sweet 16 since 1969, Colorado has done at least one thing fairly well for much of coach Tad Boyle’s tenure – sending players to the NBA.

Since Boyle took over in 2010, the Buffs have seen 10 of their players make it to the highest level of professional basketball in the country. For some context, that matches the number of Colorado players that reached the NBA from 1974-2006, a stretch of 32 years.

Right now, there are five former Buffs in the NBA, which is tied for as many as the program has ever had in the league at a given time.

How’d the members of that quintet fare during the regular season? Let’s take a look.

Spencer Dinwiddie, Nets/Mavericks

It was an interesting 2022-23 campaign for Dinwiddie, who spent his first 53 games with the Dallas Mavericks before being traded to Brooklyn after the Nets tired of the Kyrie Irving, um, experience and traded the mercurial superstar guard away. It marked a return for Dinwiddie, who had spent five seasons earlier in his career with the Nets, including in 2019-20, when he averaged a career-best 20.6 points per game.

The 6-foot-6 guard who was part of Boyle’s first full recruiting class at Colorado finished the season averaging 17.3 points per game, the second-best mark in a season in his career, along with 6.5 assists per game (to just 1.8 turnovers per contest). While Dinwiddie’s scoring average went down slightly after the move to Brooklyn, going from 17.7 to 16.5, he became a valuable playmaker for the Nets, averaging 9.1 assists in his 26 games there, up from the 5.3 he was averaging in Dallas.

Without the star power of Irving and Kevin Durant, the Nets did struggle a bit after their trades, going 13-15 after acquiring Dinwiddie and others from the Mavericks. Still, they earned a No. 6 seed in the NBA Playoffs, where they’ll begin a first-round series Saturday against the No. 3 seed Philadelphia 76ers.

Derrick White, Celtics

After playing a key role for a team that made the NBA Finals last season, White saw his role grow a bit in 2022-23 in Boston, with 70 starts in 82 games. He made the most of the opportunity, as his 3-point percentage jumped from 30.6% to 38.1%, which allowed his scoring average to increase from 11 to 12.4 points per game. The 28-year-old guard finished fourth among all Celtics players in scoring and third in assists (with 3.9 per game).

It’s simply the latest chapter in what has been an unlikely story. White famously had no scholarship offers from four-year schools coming out of high school in Parker before going to UCCS, where he went from non-scholarship player to two-time Division II all-American. He later transferred to Colorado, where he was a first-team all-Pac-12 selection in his lone season in Boulder before being drafted by the San Antonio Spurs with the No. 29 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft.

Like Dinwiddie, White’s team is still alive, with the second-seeded Celtics set to face the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the playoffs, beginning with a game Saturday.

Alec Burks, Pistons

The longest-tenured former Buff of the group, Burks just wrapped up his 12th NBA season. The 6-foot-6 guard averaged 12.8 points per game for the Detroit Pistons while making 41.4% of his 3-pointers.

After seeing his scoring average dip to 8.8 points per game while playing for three different teams during the 2018-19 season, Burks has turned in some of the best, most consistent play of his career over the past several years. Since the start of the 2019-20 season, he has averaged 13 points per game while making 40.3% of his 3s. This past season with the Pistons, who finished an NBA-worst 17-65, Burks was the fifth-leading scorer and second-best 3-point shooter among qualifying players.

Burks – who signed with Colorado under Jeff Bzdelik, not Boyle – can return to the Pistons next season if they exercise a club option that would pay him $10.49 million in 2023-24. Over the past 12 years, he has estimated career earnings of almost $80 million.

McKinley Wright, Mavericks

The star of Colorado’s most recent NCAA Tournament team, Wright just wrapped up his second NBA season, this one coming with the Mavericks after he played his rookie year with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

After scoring five points in five games last season in Minnesota, Wright became a much more commonly-used player for Dallas, averaging 4.2 points and 2.1 assists in 12.4 minutes per game. He scored 13 points in each of the Mavericks’ final two games, though it didn’t come without a huge caveat, as Dallas rested many of its top players even while it was still in playoff contention, which has prompted an NBA investigation into tanking.

As was the case in Minnesota, Wright joined the Mavericks on a two-way contract, though he played only six games with Dallas’ G League affiliate, compared to 27 with the parent club. With the Texas Legends, he averaged 19 points per game.

Jabari Walker, Trail Blazers

The Buffs’ most recent draftee, Walker left for the NBA after a strong sophomore season in 2021-22, during which he averaged 14.6 and 9.4 rebounds per game.

After being taken by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 57th selection in a 60-pick draft, the 6-foot-7 forward played in 56 games as a rookie. In that time, he averaged 3.9 points and 2.3 rebounds in 11.1 minutes per game. With his team, which is coached by Colorado legend Chauncey Billups, well out of the playoff race, Walker had his biggest contributions come later in the season. In a seven-game stretch from March 24 through April 4, Walker averaged 10 points per game.

Walker came into the NBA by signing a three-year, $4.76 million contract with Portland.