Which College Teams Produce the Most NBA Players?

People often joke that you could fill an entire NBA team with players who went to the University of Kentucky, but here’s the truth: you could fill two NBA teams with players who went to Kentucky, and you’d still have two players left over. Here are the ten colleges who have produced the most players currently in the NBA.

1. Kentucky (32 players)

An all-Kentucky team could feature Anthony Davis and Karl-Anthony Davis as the bigs, John Wall and Jamal Murray at point guard with Devin Booker and Eric Bledsoe also in the backcourt. How about this statistic? The Kentucky players in the NBA have over one billion dollars in career earnings, led by Wall, David, and Rajon Rondo who have all cleared a cool $100 million. Kentucky  had 29 players in the NBA last season and added another three draftees in Tyrese Maxey, Immanuel Quickley, and Nick Richards. The moneyline odds on another team ever having 32 players in the NBA at one time have to be incredibly high.

2. Duke (26 players)

Did you know that J.J. Redick has earned over $103 million dollars playing in the NBA? How about the fact that Jabari Parker, Austin Rivers, and Mason Plumlee are all approaching the $50 million dollar club? There aren’t many veteran Duke stars left in the league but Zion Williamson and Jayson Tatum are already threatening to become the best Duke pro players ever.

3. North Carolina (17 players)

UNC led lists like this in the 1990’s, but Roy Williams needs to restock the talent cupboard in Chapel Hill after the team finished below .500 last season. Continuing the theme, Marvin Williams has $122 million in career earnings and Harrison Barnes has over $100 million as well. There are no all-star level players from UNC playing in the league right now, but rookie Cole Anthony hopes to end that trend.

T-4. UCLA (13 players)

Russell Westbrook and Kevin Love, who played together for the Bruins, are the stars of this group. Lonzo Ball, Jrue Holiday, and Zach LaVine help give UCLA, a school once best known for its great big men, one of the best groups of NBA guards from any college.

T-4. Kansas (13 players)

Former Jayhawks Joel Embiid and Andrew Wiggins have matching 5 year, $147,710,050 contracts. The Morris twins, Markieff and Marcus Sr., ply their trade in L.A. respectively, for the Lakers and Clippers. Marcus Sr. has the massive $64 million dollar contract, but that’s great news for Markieff, since the twins reportedly share one bank account.

6. Arizona (12 players)

Andre Iguodala is the elder statesman of the Wildcats crew but there is a serious youth movement afoot. Deandre Ayton and Lauri Markkanen are young stars and ‘Zona sent three more players to the league in the 2020 draft, in Josh Green, Zeke Nnaji, and Nico Mannion.

T-7. Texas (11 players)

The Texas Longhorn squad in the NBA is the longest in the tooth of any team’s contingent. The headliners are Kevin Durant and LaMarcus Aldridge, and it seems like players from Texas specialize in sticking around forever, like D.J. Augustine, Cory Joseph, and P.J. Tucker.

T-7. Michigan (11 players)

The maize-and-blue’s NBA contingent is a interesting mix of vets like Jamal Crawford, sons of former NBA stars, in Glenn Robinson III and Tim Hardaway Jr., and Euros like Ignas Brazdeikis and Morotz Wagner.

9. Washington (10 players)

Washington is the biggest surprise on this list. You could win a lot of bets, getting serious moneyline odds, before someone predicted that the Washington Huskies, who have not even been to the Elite Eight since 1953, have more NBA players than the UConn Huskies, who have won four titles in the past two decades. The Washington NBA squad is led by Markelle Fultz and Terrence Ross, but Washington cracked double digits when two Huskies, Isaiah Stewart and Jaden McDaniels were selected in the first round of the 2020 NBA draft.

T-10. Indiana (9 players)

The Hoosiers have a mix of veteran stars like Victor Oladipo and Eric Gordon, coupled with budding star OG Anunoby.

T-10. Villanova (9 players)

A few years ago there were virtually zero ‘Nova players in the NBA but with Villanova becoming a legitimate college powerhouse, the college’s alums are everywhere, like Donte DiVincenzo in Milwaukee and Mikal Bridges in Phoenix. The latest ‘Nova alum is Saddiq Bey, who will play his rookie season for the Detroit Pistons.

T-10. Virginia (9 players)

Similar to Villanova, the Cavaliers rarely had NBA caliber talent just a decade ago, but now the reigning college champions have alumni across the league, highlighted by Malcolm Brgodon, Joe Harris, and Mike Scott.