Ohio State did not get a chance to participate in the NCAA tournament this season, but a pair of former Buckeyes are representing the scarlet and gray at the next level in the NBA Playoffs.
Former Ohio State guard Mike Conley Jr. and forward Jae’Sean Tate are this year’s Buckeye representatives in the playoffs, with Conley once again making it with the Minnesota Timberwolves and Tate with the Houston Rockets.
Conley is in the playoffs for the 12th time in his 18 seasons that he has made the postseason, this time serving as the starting point guard for a Timberwolves team that is the No. 6 seed in the tournament and squaring off with the star-laden Los Angeles Lakers.
Conley’s Timberwolves will begin their seven-game series with the LeBron James and Luka Doncic-led Lakers on Saturday night at 8:30 p.m (ABC). The series will go through early May if necessary.
While Conley is looking to go deep in his 12th playoff appearance, Tate is playing in his first postseason of his five-year career after he helped Houston earn its first playoff appearance since the 2019-20 season. Tate, who joined the Rockets as an undrafted free agent in 2020, averaged 3.6 points and 2.3 rebounds off the bench in the regular season. He, like Conley, is set to square off against an NBA legend and iconic franchise. The second-seeded Rockets will square off with Steph Curry and the Golden State Warriors in the first round, with Game 1 of the series tipping off at 9:30 p.m. on Sunday (TNT).
Tate and Conley are the only former Buckeyes in the NBA Playoffs this year, but there were still some players who represented Ohio State well during the regular season. Perhaps the most notable example of that is forward Jamison Battle, who burst on the scene with the Toronto Raptors after initially being signed to a two-way contract. The one-year Buckeye (2023-24) averaged 7.1 points and 2.7 rebounds per game while shooting 42.9 percent from the floor and 40.5 percent from three in his 59 appearances (10 starts). He finished his rookie season off in style, draining a career-high seven threes and 25 points in their 125-118 loss to the San Antonio Spurs on April 13, a performance that put him over 100 threes made on the season (103).
Utah Jazz forward Brice Sensabugh also shot well from beyond the arc in his third season in the league, ranking 15th in the NBA in three-point percentage (42.2 percent, 157 of 372) while also producing career-highs in games played (71), starts (15) and points per game (10.9). His Jazz went just 17-65 on the year, however, the worst in the NBA this season.
A more established NBA Buckeye, guard D’Angelo Russell, also had a solid season with two different teams. The former No. 2 overall draft pick in 2015 and All-Big Ten player averaged 12.4 points and 4.7 assists per game on 41.5 percent shooting in 29 games with the Los Angeles Lakers before netting 12.9 points and 5.6 assists on 36.7 percent shooting in his final 29 games with the Brooklyn Nets after he was traded there in February for the second time in his career.
Russell, like Sensbaugh, missed the NBA playoffs after Brooklyn went just 26-56 on the year, sixth-worst in the league.
A few other former Buckeyes represented the scarlet and gray in the NBA this season, including San Antonio Spurs forward Malaki Branham (5.0 points, 0.8 assists, 1.1 rebounds), Chicago Bulls forward E.J. Liddell (1.8, 0.3 0.8) and Jazz power forward/center Micah Potter (4.3, 0.8, 4.3).
Liddell’s Bulls did make the play-in tournament/playoffs, but he was left off the playoff roster after playing just 12 games this season.
