Since the NBA draft began in 1947, Memphis has produced 14 first-round picks, including 8 top-ten picks and one number-one pick (Derrick Rose ). Three former Tigers have been named NBA All-Stars : Larry Kenon (twice), Penny Hardaway (4 times), and Derrick Rose (3 times). Four have gone on to win the NBA Championship: Win Wilfong with the St. Louis Hawks in 1958 , William Bedford with the Detroit Pistons in 1990 , Earl Barron with the Miami Heat in 2006 , and James Wiseman with the Golden State Warriors in 2022 .
In 2010, Memphis became the second college to produce two consecutive NBA Rookie of the Year winners: Derrick Rose in 2009 and Tyreke Evans in 2010 (the first being North Carolina with winners Walter Davis in 1978 and Phil Ford in 1979 ). In 2011, Rose became the first former Tiger to be named the NBA Most Valuable Player .
Many Memphis players since the 1960s that have gone undrafted or had unsuccessful NBA careers have also played in professional leagues in Europe, Asia and/or Latin America.
Penny Hardaway playing for the New York Knicks (2004–2006) Lorenzen Wright playing for the Memphis Grizzlies (2001–2006) Derrick Rose playing for the Chicago Bulls (2008–2016) Tyreke Evans playing for the New Orleans Pelicans (2013–2017) NBA Players Who Attended Memphis Player Year Round Pick Team Seasons Years Active (NBA & ABA)
Achievements Win Wilfong 1957 1 4th St. Louis Hawks 4 1957–1961 1958 NBA Champion Jim Hackaday [e] 1959 3 17th Philadelphia Warriors Orby Arnold [e] 1959 7 53rd St. Louis Hawks George Price [e] 1960 8 58th New York Knicks Wayne Yates 1961 1 5th Los Angeles Lakers 1 1961–1962 Lowery Kirk [e] 1961 4 34th Cincinnati Royals Hunter Beckman [e] 1963 7 58th Cincinnati Royals George Kirk [e] 1964 5 42nd Cincinnati Royals Bob Neumann [e] 1964 10 83rd Cincinnati Royals Mike Butler [a] 1968 10 121st San Diego Rockets 4 1968–1972 Rich Jones [a] [b] 1969 5 58th Phoenix Suns 7 1970–1977 James Douglas [e] 1971 16 226th Buffalo Braves Doug Holcomb [e] 1972 6 94th Boston Celtics Ronnie Robinson [a] 1973 4 60th Phoenix Suns 2 1973–1975 Larry Kenon [a] [c] 1973 3 50th Detroit Pistons 10 1973–1983 2x NBA All-Star Larry Finch [a] 1973 4 68th Los Angeles Lakers 2 1973–1975 Bill Cook [e] 1976 3 49th Washington Bullets Marion Hillard [e] 1976 4 65th Washington Bullets James Bradley [e] 1979 2 35th Atlanta Hawks Rodney Lee [e] 1979 8 150th Detroit Pistons Dennis Isbell [e] 1981 5 100th San Diego Clippers Hank McDowell 1981 5 102nd Golden State Warriors 5 1981–1986 Otis Jackson [e] 1982 8 174th New Jersey Nets Chris Faggi [e] 1982 8 179th San Antonio Spurs Bobby Parks [e] 1984 3 58th Atlanta Hawks Phillip Haynes [e] 1984 6 121st Los Angeles Clippers Keith Lee 1985 1 11th Chicago Bulls 4 1985–1989 Baskerville Holmes [e] 1986 3 68th Milwaukee Bucks Andre Turner 1986 3 69th Los Angeles Lakers 6 1986–1992 William Bedford 1986 1 6th Phoenix Suns 7 1986–1993 1990 NBA Champion Vincent Askew 1987 2 39th Philadelphia 76ers 9 1987–1988, 1990–1998
Sylvester Gray 1988 2 35th Miami Heat 1 1988–1989 Dwight Boyd [e] 1988 3 66th Denver Nuggets Elliot Perry 1991 2 37th Los Angeles Clippers 9 1991–1992, 1994–2002
Penny Hardaway 1993 1 3rd Golden State Warriors 14 1993–2007 4x NBA All-Star, 2x All-NBA First Team, All-NBA Third Team Todd Mundt 1995 undrafted n/a Boston Celtics 1 1995–1996 David Vaughn III 1995 1 25th Orlando Magic 4 1995–1999 Lorenzen Wright 1996 1 7th Los Angeles Clippers 13 1996–2009 Cedric Henderson 1997 2 44th Cleveland Cavaliers 5 1997–2002 Chris Garner 1997 undrafted n/a Toronto Raptors 2 1997–1998, 2001
Dajuan Wagner 2002 1 6th Cleveland Cavaliers 4 2002–2006 Antonio Burks 2004 2 37th Orlando Magic 2 2004–2006 Earl Barron 2005 undrafted n/a Miami Heat 3 2005–2006, 2010–2012
2006 NBA Champion Shawne Williams 2006 1 17th Indiana Pacers 9 2006–2015 Rodney Carney 2006 1 16th Chicago Bulls 5 2006–2011 Darius Washington Jr. 2007 undrafted n/a San Antonio Spurs 1 2007 Chris Douglas-Roberts 2008 2 40th New Jersey Nets 7 2008–2015 Joey Dorsey 2008 2 33rd Portland Trail Blazers 3 2008–2011 Derrick Rose 2008 1 1st Chicago Bulls 16 2008–2024 2011 NBA MVP, 3x NBA All-Star, All-NBA First Team, 2009 NBA Rookie of the Year Tyreke Evans 2009 1 4th Sacramento Kings 10 2009–2019 2010 NBA Rookie of the Year Robert Dozier [e] 2009 2 60th Miami Heat Antonio Anderson 2009 undrafted n/a Oklahoma City Thunder 1 2010 Elliot Williams 2010 1 22nd Portland Trail Blazers 6 2010–2016 Will Barton 2012 2 40th Portland Trail Blazers 11 2012–2023 D.J. Stephens 2013 undrafted n/a Milwaukee Bucks 2 2014, 2018 Adonis Thomas 2013 undrafted n/a Orlando Magic 1 2014 Tarik Black [d] 2014 undrafted n/a Houston Rockets 4 2014–2018 Jeremiah Martin 2019 undrafted n/a Brooklyn Nets 1 2020–2021 James Wiseman 2020 1 2nd Golden State Warriors 5 2020–Present 2022 NBA Champion Precious Achiuwa 2020 1 20th Miami Heat 5 2020–Present Jalen Duren 2022 1 13th Charlotte Hornets 3 2022–Present Josh Minott 2022 2 45th Charlotte Hornets 3 2022–Present Lester Quiñones 2022 undrafted n/a Golden State Warriors 2 2022–2024 Emoni Bates [d] 2023 2 19th Cleveland Cavaliers 2 2023–Present Boogie Ellis [d] 2024 undrafted n/a Sacramento Kings 1 2024 Nae'Qwan Tomlin 2024 undrafted n/a Cleveland Cavaliers 1 2025–Present
currently active players are in bold
a American Basketball Association (ABA), which existed from 1967 to 1976. b c d Tarik Black played at Memphis from 2010 to 2013 and transferred to Kansas for his senior season. Emoni Bates played at Memphis from 2021 to 2022 and transferred to Eastern Michigan for his sophomore season. Boogie Ellis played at Memphis from 2019 to 2021 and transferred to USC for his redshirt sophomore, junior and senior seasons. e Source: [ 1]
This page is based on this
Wikipedia article Text is available under the
CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.
