Syracuse in the NBA: Buddy Boeheim starts seeing minutes
March Madness is winding down, and with no Syracuse basketball in the tourney for the second straight year, let's instead take a peek at how the former Syracuse players in the NBA are faring...
Buddy Boeheim
More than four months after seeing his first NBA action on Oct. 21, Boeheim had to wait until March 4 to see the floor again for the Detroit Pistons. In that return game, he played six minutes against Cleveland, Boeheim logged his first NBA points on, yup...you guessed it...a 3-pointer. Detroit is in full tank mode at 16-59, jockeying for the best position to land Victor Wembanyama. That's allowed Boeheim to appear in five games in March, though he's shooting just 17.4 percent for the season.
Oshae Brissett
Indiana continues to slide in the Eastern Conference standings. They were 11th when we last checked up on them. Now, the Pacers find themselves in 12th, four games behind the final play-in spot. Brissett has not seen the floor very much lately, playing in just six games since the beginning of February. But after seeing just 11.5 minutes per game in February, Brissett has seen the floor more in March, and is averaging 8.0 ppg and 3.4 rpg in the month.
Michael Carter-Williams
On Feb. 26, the Orlando Magic signed Carter-Williams to a two-year deal. Carter-Williams hasn't played a game in the NBA since the 2020-21 season, when he was in his third season with the Magic. He has yet to appear in any games this season and it's unknown whether or not he will actually play at all before the end of the regular season. But, Orlando obviously values the 31-year old's tutelage and mentorship, given they brought him back to a largely talented, albeit young, roster.
Jerami Grant
After an insane scoring stretch by Damian Lillard, including 71 in a Feb. 26 win over Houston, Portland briefly flirted with a playoff spot before significantly fading back toward the bottom of the Western Conference. The Trail Blazers are now 8.5 games out of a playoff spot because of injuries, including Grant, who has not played since March 12 (quad). Grant's put in another solid season, averaging 20.5 ppg and 4.5 rpg, directly in line with his last two seasons, when he averaged right around 20 points and four rebounds a game. With his contract expiring at the end of the season, there will be no shortage of suitors in the offseason trying to obtain his services.
Cole Swider
As expected, the flurry of trade deadline deals made by the Los Angeles Lakers that brought five new players to the roster have resulted in Swider not getting any floor time recently. Swider has not seen any action since Feb. 9. Currently, the Lakers are hanging on to the 9th spot in the Western Conference at 37-38 as they try to stay afloat while LeBron James works his way back from an injury that kept him out for four weeks.
Carmelo Anthony
With the March 1 deadline for players to join rosters in order to be eligible for postseason rosters having come and gone, it appears this year's playoffs will not include Carmelo Anthony, as he remains without an NBA job.
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