LOS ANGELES – The UCLA basketball program features 13 former players in the NBA, as the league opens its 2016-17 regular-season schedule with three games on Tuesday, followed by a 10-game slate on Wednesday.

Matt Barnes enters his 14th season in the NBA on Wednesday, his first with the Sacramento Kings. Barnes, a second-round selection (No. 46, overall) by Memphis in 2002, played in 76 games for the Grizzlies one year ago. A four-year letter winner at UCLA (1999-2002), Barnes has averaged 8.3 points and 4.6 rebounds in 855 career NBA games.

Barnes, along with UCLA products Arron Afflalo and Darren Collison, will help get Sacramento's season started Wednesday. Sacramento will play at the Phoenix Suns, who enter their first full season under the guidance of head coach Earl Watson. Watson, who starred at UCLA from 1998-2001, was named Phoenix's interim head coach midway through the 2015-16 before earning the full-time designation in the offseason.

Afflalo and Collison were teammates at UCLA during the 2006-07 season. In all, Afflalo spent three years in Westwood (2005-07), helping lead the Bruins to back-to-back NCAA Final Four appearances in 2006 and 2007. He enters his 10th year in the NBA and his first season with Sacramento. Collison is set to begin his third year with Sacramento, his eighth season in the NBA. He was a four-year guard at UCLA from 2006-09, guiding the Bruins to four straight NCAA Tournaments and NCAA Final Four appearances in 2006, 2007 and 2008.

UCLA's second-most experienced NBA player, Trevor Ariza, embarks upon his 13th year in the league and his third full season playing for the Houston Rockets. Ariza, who has started 163 of the Rockets 164 regular-season contests the last two years, has averaged 10.3 points, 4.7 rebounds and 2.1 assists in 795 career NBA games. Houston opens its regular-season campaign on Wednesday at the Los Angeles Lakers.
 
Three UCLA players are set to start their respective seasons on Tuesday – Kevin Love of the defending NBA champion Cleveland Cavaliers, Kyle Anderson of the San Antonio Spurs and Kevon Looney of the Golden State Warriors. Love enters his ninth season in the NBA, his third with Cleveland. Last season, he averaged 16.0 points and 9.9 rebounds per game in leading the Cavaliers to their first-ever NBA championship. Love spent the 2007-08 season as a freshman at UCLA, guiding the Bruins to the Pac-10 regular-season and tournament titles before UCLA advanced to a third consecutive NCAA Final Four.
 
Anderson, entering his third NBA season, played in 78 regular-season games last year and made 11 starts. He started for the Bruins during each of his two seasons in Westwood – 2012-13 and 2013-14 – leading the program to consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances (the Sweet 16 in 2014) and the 2014 Pac-12 Tournament title.
 
Looney, who had a third-year option exercised by the Golden State Warriors over the weekend, begins his second year in the NBA. A first-round NBA Draft selection out of UCLA in June 2015, Looney played in just five games last season. As a freshman in Westwood during the 2014-15 campaign, Looney helped UCLA advanced to the NCAA Tournament's Sweet 16.
 
Russell Westbrook begins his ninth year in the NBA – all with the Oklahoma City Thunder – on Wednesday evening, when Oklahoma City plays at the Philadelphia 76ers. Westbrook averaged 23.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 10.4 assists last season, helping the Thunder advance to the Western Conference Finals. Through his eight previous NBA seasons, he has registered 21.1 points, 5.6 rebounds and 7.6 assists per game.
 
Luc Richard Mbah a Moute, a three-year standout with UCLA from 2006-08, enters his ninth year in the NBA this Thursday when the Los Angeles Clippers tip off their regular-season campaign against the Portland Trail Blazers. Mbah a Moute has averaged 6.3 points and 4.5 rebounds in 541 career NBA games, making 362 starts. His UCLA teams advanced to the NCAA Final Four during each of his three years in college.
 
Jrue Holiday and the New Orleans Pelicans get their regular season started at home against the Denver Nuggets on Wednesday evening. Holiday, who starred as a freshman at UCLA during the 2008-09 season, will begin his eighth NBA season, his fourth year playing for New Orleans. In seven prior NBA seasons, Holiday has averaged 14.1 points, 3.5 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game.
 
Two former UCLA freshmen standouts, Shabazz Muhammad and Zach LaVine, get the season started for the Minnesota Timberwolves on Wednesday night. Muhammad spent the 2012-13 season as a freshman at UCLA before playing the last two years for Minnesota, which will tip off its 2016-17 campaign at the Memphis Grizzlies. Last season, Muhammad averaged 10.5 points and 3.3 rebounds per game.
 
LaVine, entering his third full NBA season, spent the 2013-14 season as a freshman at UCLA before being selected in the first round of the 2014 NBA Draft. In his first two NBA seasons, he has won the Slam Dunk Contest at the NBA's All-Star Weekend. Overall, LaVine has averaged 12.1 points, 2.8 rebounds and 3.6 assists in 159 career NBA games.
 
Norman Powell begins his second year in the NBA with the Toronto Raptors, which advanced to the Eastern Conference Finals for the first time in postseason history last spring. Powell, a four-year player for the Bruins from 2012-15, helped lead UCLA to three NCAA Tournament appearances, the 2014 Pac-12 Tournament title and a Sweet 16 appearance in 2015. Toronto gets its regular season underway at home against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday evening.