Basketball
article image AP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
Brooklyn Nets forward Jalen Wilson (22) drives to the basket against Toronto Raptors guard Ochai Agbaji (30) during the second half of an NBA basketball game Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in New York.
The NBA season drew to a close on Sunday with the Oklahoma City Thunder’s victory in Game 7 of the NBA Finals, the franchise’s first-ever title in its current incarnation.
By finishing off the Indiana Pacers, the Thunder prevented rookie Johnny Furphy from becoming the fifth Jayhawk in the last six years to win an NBA title. Furphy played sparingly in the finals, earning his first career postseason bucket in Game 5 back on June 17 and making a 32-second cameo at the end of Game 7.
He and the Pacers had previously eliminated his former teammate Kevin McCullar Jr. and the New York Knicks; McCullar did not play in the postseason. The pair of rookies had been the final two Jayhawks remaining in the 2024-25 season.
With the campaign at an end, and before the NBA Draft (which starts Wednesday) and Summer League (beginning July 5) bring in a new crop of players, here are some updates on how it went for the variety of veteran Jayhawks on NBA rosters.
Ochai Agbaji: The former first-team All-American and first-round draft pick had the best year of his professional career in his first full season with the Toronto Raptors. After an uninspiring showing in the NBA Summer League, where he was the most experienced player on his team, he turned it up in the regular season, garnering 45 starts in 64 appearances and averaging 10.4 points and 3.8 rebounds. Most notably, he improved his 3-point percentage to 39.9% after showing 21.7% in his brief stint with Toronto the previous year. That made it look like a good choice by the Raptors to have picked up his team option back in October, meaning he is under contract through the end of next season.
Christian Braun: Another player who took a well-timed step up in his third NBA season, Braun had started 10 games combined as a role player for the Denver Nuggets his first two years. He started 77 during the 2024-25 campaign, shooting an efficient 58% from the field as he racked up 15.4 points, 5.2 rebounds and 2.6 assists per game. He then helped lead the Nuggets’ charge through the postseason, at one point posting a 23-point, 11-rebound double-double to help force Game 7 against the Thunder in the Western Conference Semifinals, but Denver fell short, bringing Braun’s season to a close without another championship.
Gradey Dick: Dick is also now under contract with Toronto for another year thanks to a team option. The former lottery pick upped his scoring output in his second season compared to his uneven, slow-developing first year, even as the Raptors missed the playoffs. Dick had started all 54 games he played for the Raptors while averaging 14.4 points per game, albeit on slightly lower efficiency than in his first season, and with his production slowing down somewhat over the course of the season. His year was cut short by a knee injury, meaning that he played his final game on March 2 before the Raptors shut him down.
Joel Embiid: Embiid, who once missed the entirety of his first two NBA seasons, played his lowest quantity of games in a year since then. He was limited to just 19 appearances in what was his 11th overall season as a pro. When Embiid did play, he put up solid numbers, albeit not the MVP-caliber totals from his previous few seasons. But he didn’t take the court after Feb. 22 and underwent knee surgery in April.
Marcus Garrett: The defensive stalwart Garrett, a longtime member of the Greensboro Swarm of the NBA G League, received a 10-day contract from the Charlotte Hornets as he returned to the NBA for the first time in three seasons. Garrett managed a solid 7.0 points and 3.3 assists in four appearances but missed one game due to an injury and was away from the team for another, per the Hornets’ availability reports, before they did not renew his deal. He was back in Greensboro by season’s end.
Devonte’ Graham: Graham did not actually appear in an NBA game this past season for the first time in his career, after he was released by Portland in the preseason, but he spent a brief stint with the South Bay Lakers of the G League (he had been in Greensboro during his rookie season) and averaged 10.8 points and 4.6 assists in five games with the team. He was eventually traded to the Rip City Remix but did not appear in a game, though he is still listed on the Remix’s roster.
Markieff Morris: Morris and his twin brother Marcus have been making frequent appearances on ESPN’s “First Take” in recent times, but Markieff in fact not only played in the NBA season but was involved in what is already one of the most infamous trades in league history, the deal that sent Luka Dončić from the Mavericks to the Lakers. Morris, too, went to Los Angeles in that trade. In his 14th NBA season, he played seven games for Dallas and eight, including two starts, for the Lakers.
Svi Mykhailiuk: An NBA champion last season with the Boston Celtics, Mykhailiuk made the move to Utah, which had the worst record in basketball this year at 17-65. The Ukrainian guard started 13 games, his most with a single team in a given season since 2019-20, and in 20.0 minutes per game averaged 8.8 points on 39.1% shooting. On April 11 he scored a career-high 27 against, of all teams, the title-winning Thunder, in what was still a 34-point loss.
Kelly Oubre Jr.: The 76ers struggled without Embiid, but Oubre’s production remained fairly consistent in his second year with the team. In very similar numbers to his previous season, he tallied 15.1 points on 47% shooting with 6.1 rebounds per game, starting in 57 of his 60 appearances. Oubre, who started his career with Washington in 2015 after one year of college basketball, will enter the second season of his two-year contract in 2025-26.
Andrew Wiggins: Wiggins has recently been subject to plenty of trade buzz once again after he was part of the Golden State Warriors’ trade for Jimmy Butler in February. In return, Wiggins was one of the pieces going back to the Miami Heat, with whom he started all 17 games he played late in the recently concluded season, missing some time due to a hamstring injury. Over the course of the year, in 60 games total between the two franchises, Wiggins scored 18.0 points and grabbed 4.5 rebounds on average in his 11th professional season. Despite entering as the No. 10 seed, the Heat advanced out of the play-in tournament, only to lose to the Cleveland Cavaliers in a resounding first-round sweep.
Jalen Wilson: Wilson had come into the NBA as a late second-round pick but worked his way into consistent playing time towards the end of his rookie season on a struggling Brooklyn Nets roster. He was a far more frequent contributor over the course of his sophomore campaign, as he played all but three games and even started 22, scoring 9.5 points per game in an average of 24.7 minutes. His highest usage came in the month of January, although he did finish the year with five double-digit scoring performances in his final six appearances, including two 20-point showings to match a season high.
article imageAP Photo/Craig Mitchelldyer
Portland Trail Blazers guard Devonte’ Graham poses for a photo during the NBA basketball team’s media day in Portland, Ore., Monday, Sept. 30, 2024.
article imageAP Photo/Howard Lao
Los Angeles Lakers forward Markieff Morris, right, shoots the ball against Portland Trail Blazers guard Sidy Cissoko, left, during the first half of an NBA basketball game Sunday, April 13, 2025, in Portland, Ore.
article imageAP Photo/Terrance Williams
Utah Jazz guard Svi Mykhailiuk (19) handles the ball against Washington Wizards guard Bub Carrington during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Wednesday, Mar. 5, 2025, in Washington.
article imageAP Photo/Matt Slocum
Philadelphia 76ers’ Kelly Oubre Jr. plays during an NBA basketball game Sunday, March 9, 2025, in Philadelphia.
article imageAP Photo/Michael Laughlin
Miami Heat forward Andrew Wiggins (22) spins past Cleveland Cavaliers guard Donovan Mitchell during the first half in Game 3 of an NBA basketball first-round playoff series, Saturday, April 26, 2025, in Miami.
article imageAP Photo/Heather Khalifa
Brooklyn Nets forward Jalen Wilson (22) gestures after making a three-point basket during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the New Orleans Pelicans, Tuesday, April 8, 2025, in New York.
article imageAP Photo/Eduardo Munoz Alvarez
Toronto Raptors guard Ochai Agbaji (30) shoots during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets Wednesday, March 26, 2025, in New York.
article imageAP Photo/David Zalubowski
Denver Nuggets guard Christian Braun (0) passes the ball as Oklahoma City Thunder guard Aaron Wiggins (21) and forward Chet Holmgren (7) defend in the first half of Game 6 in the Western Conference semifinals of the NBA basketball playoffs Thursday, May 15, 2025, in Denver.
article imageAP Photo/Nate Billings
Toronto Raptors guard Gradey Dick dribbles during the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Oklahoma City Thunder, Friday, Feb. 7, 2025, in Oklahoma City.
article imageAP Photo/Matt Slocum
Philadelphia 76ers’ Joel Embiid, center, goes up for a shot against Toronto Raptors’ Jonathan Mogbo during the second half of an NBA basketball game, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Philadelphia.
article imageAP Photo/Nell Redmond
Charlotte Hornets guard Marcus Garrett looks to pass during the first half of an NBA basketball game against the Atlanta Hawks in Charlotte, N.C., Tuesday, March 18, 2025.
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Written By Henry Greenstein
Henry is the sports editor at the Lawrence Journal-World and KUsports.com, and serves as the KU beat writer while managing day-to-day sports coverage. He previously worked as a sports reporter at The Bakersfield Californian and is a graduate of Washington University in St. Louis (B.A., Linguistics) and Arizona State University (M.A., Sports Journalism). Though a native of Los Angeles, he has frequently been told he does not give off "California vibes," whatever that means.
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