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As the NBA regular season officially tips off on Tuesday, the Red Storm will have their most representation in the Association in decades.
Five former St. John’s men’s basketball players made opening day rosters this year, including the Red Storm’s three-man rookie class of Zuby Ejiofor, Dillon Mitchell, and Bryce Hopkins.
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The Red Storm’s All-Big East frontcourt trio were all selected in the 2026 NBA draft, marking the first time in the two-round era that three St. John’s players were selected in the same NBA draft.
Zuby Ejiofor ended the program’s 11-year draftless drought when the Atlanta Hawks selected him with the 23rd overall pick in the first round. Dillon Mitchell and Bryce Hopkins went off the board in the second round with the 40th overall selection by the Boston Celtics and the 49th overall selection by the Denver Nuggets, respectively.
As a first-round pick, Ejiofor is on a guaranteed contract and is expected to battle for frontcourt minutes off the bench with fellow rookie Henri Veesaar, Jock Landale, Asa Newell, and Mouhamed Gueye, while Mitchell and Hopkins are on two-way deals and will likely split time between the NBA and the G-League.
Julian Champagnie, the most experienced Red Storm alum in the league, is set to begin his fifth professional season with the reigning Western Conference champion San Antonio Spurs. After the Philadelphia 76ers waived him midway through his rookie year, the undrafted Brooklyn native quickly found a home deep in Texas and has served as the Spurs’ 3-and-D weapon ever since.
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Last season with the Spurs, Champagnie was one of 18 NBA players to play all 82 of their regular-season games. He averaged a career-best 11.1 points and 5.8 rebounds on 43.7% shooting from the field and 38.1% from deep. On New Year’s Eve, he set the Spurs franchise record for most threes made in a game with eleven treys in a 134-132 win over the Knicks.
The former All-Big East Most Improved Player award winner started all 23 playoff games for the Spurs in his postseason debut last season, including all five NBA Finals games, becoming the first St. John’s alum to play on the…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/articles/five-st-john-men-basketball-210849801.html
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Publish date : 2026-10-20 21:08:00
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