UCLA Well-Represented on NBA's Opening Week Rosters
October 21, 2025 | Men's Basketball
LOS ANGELES โ The UCLA men's basketball program has 14 former players who are expected to make NBA opening-night rosters as the 2025-26 NBA season gets underway on Tuesday, Oct. 21.
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The most veteran former UCLA players include Kevin Love (Utah Jazz) and Russell Westbrook (Sacramento Kings), who are set to begin their 18th NBA season. The only other former UCLA standout from the decade of the 2000s is Jrue Holiday (Portland Trail Blazers), who enters his 17th year in the NBA. Westbrook and Love were first-round draft selections in 2008, while Holiday was picked in the first round of the 2009 NBA Draft.
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Former UCLA teammates Kyle Anderson (Utah Jazz) and Zach LaVine (Sacramento Kings) will begin their 12th NBA seasons. Anderson and Love enter their first season playing for Utah, while LaVine begins his first full year with Sacramento after having been acquired by the Kings last season in a trade.
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Norman Powell (Miami Heat) teamed up with Anderson and LaVine during his junior campaign in 2013-14 and will begin his 11th NBA season โ his first with Miami.
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Kevon Looney (New Orleans Pelicans) joined New Orleans as a free agent over the summer after having spent his first nine NBA seasons with the Golden State Warriors.
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Entering his eighth NBA season is Aaron Holiday (Houston Rockets), the younger brother of Jrue Holiday. Aaron Holiday was a first-round draft selection of the Indiana Pacers after his junior season in 2017-18 and will begin his third year playing for Houston.
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Lonzo Ball (Cleveland Cavaliers) will enter his eighth season in the NBA. Ball was acquired by Cleveland in the offseason after having joined the Chicago Bulls for the 2021-22 season.
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UCLA's program has five players expected to make NBA opening week rosters who have played at UCLA in the past four seasons โ Peyton Watson, Johnny Juzang, Jaime Jaquez Jr., Jaylen Clark and Adem Bona. Watson (Denver Nuggets) enters his fourth NBA season, all with Denver. He was drafted by the Nuggets in 2022. Juzang will move into his fourth NBA season and his first year with the Minnesota Timberwolves. Jaquez Jr. enters his third NBA season with the Miami Heat.
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Clark will team up with Juzang in Minnesota, entering his second season on the court in the NBA. Bona, a second-round draft pick in 2024, will enter his second NBA season with the Philadelphia 76ers.
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The NBA's opening night schedule includes a pair of games on Tuesday, Oct. 21, as Houston will play at Oklahoma City and Golden State will play at the Los Angeles Lakers. Those games are set to being at 4:30 p.m. (PT) and 7:30 p.m. (PT), respectively. Aaron Holiday will be the only former UCLA standout who could be in action on Tuesday.
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The NBA's opening week schedule continues with 12 games on Wednesday and two games on Thursday. UCLA's program could have as many as 12 former players in action on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
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