yahoo - 5/15/2026 9:00:34 PM - GMT (+2 )
13 former Gonzaga Bulldogs suited up in the NBA this season, setting a new program record. As the 2026 playoffs get underway, seven of them punched postseason tickets, with one more agonizingly close to joining them. From a reigning champion hunting a repeat to a journeyman veteran soaking up garbage minutes on the hottest team in basketball, the Zag pipeline has never looked deeper. Here’s where every former Bulldog stands as the playoff race starts heating up.
Chet Holmgren | Oklahoma City Thunder | Western Conference FinalsOKC swept Phoenix in the first round, and then ran through and swept the Lakers in four (LeBron’s team never led a single game at any point). They’re now sitting in the Western Conference Finals at 8-0 waiting on whoever survives Spurs-Wolves. The defending champs are doing exactly what defending champs are supposed to do.
The Thunder were the #1 seed for the second straight year, Holmgren was a first-time All-Star and DPOY finalist, and he signed a five-year $240 million max extension last July. His regular-season line was 17.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, and a team-high 1.9 blocks across 69 starts.
His playoff numbers are actually better than last year’s championship run: 18.6 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, 60% from the floor, compared to 15.2 and 8.7 boards across 23 games in 2025. The signature moment came in Game 2 against the Lakers when OKC’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander landed in foul trouble in the third. Holmgren took over in his absence and finished with 22 points and nine boards. OKC won by 18.
Chet Holmgren has been UNREAL this postseason 🤯
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) May 14, 2026
It feels like he can’t miss right now 🔥
His efficiency has somehow been even better than OKC’s championship run last season 🏆 pic.twitter.com/SdGNJR1GZn
Only two former Zags have ever won a ring (Adam Morrison and Austin Daye), and neither played a meaningful role for their respective squads. If Holmgren and the Thunder hoist the championship trophy once again, he’ll be the first former Bulldog to win back-to-back titles while actually playing a meaningful role: big minutes on a big contract as the second-best player on the best team in the sport.
Chet Holmgren 24 PTS, 12 REB, 1 STL, 3 BLK, 9/17 FG, 2/2 3FG, 0 TOS, 64% TS vs Lakers https://t.co/pQQi02izR2pic.twitter.com/c22gtdZ0bq
— Basketball Performances (@NBAPerformances) May 6, 2026
Kelly Olynyk | San Antonio Spurs | SAS leads MIN 3-2
Thirteen years in the league. Seven teams. Kelly Olynyk has seen everything, and this season he landed on the best roster of his career. The role is what it is: 3.2 points, 1.8 rebounds, 1.2 assists in under 10 minutes a night, zero starts across 42 games. But Olynyk is a guy who knows how to stick, and the Spurs are glad to have the veteran insurance behind Wembanyama.
The story behind those stunning Spurs “Men in Black” suits?
— Maxime Aubin (@MaximeAubin1) April 20, 2026
Kelly Olynyk gifted custom-tailored suits to EVERY single one of his teammates, made by AMIN, a small NYC tailor, to mark the Spurs’ playoff comeback.
(Oh, and today is his 35th birthday.) pic.twitter.com/6MAz2VcOoD
And what a team to be part of. San Antonio went 62-20 this season, second-best record in the league, and have looked every bit that caliber in the playoffs. Wembanyama is doing some unprecedented basketball things: 27 points, 17 rebounds, and 5 blocks in the Game 5 throttling of Minnesota that pushed the Spurs to a 3-2 series lead.
Game 6 is tonight in Minnesota, and if the Spurs close it out, Olynyk would be heading to the Western Conference Finals for just the second time in his career, the first being that remarkable 2020 Miami Heat run where he dropped 24 in a Finals game against the Lakers. He’s been around long enough to know what this moment is worth.
Rui Hachimura | Los Angeles Lakers | Eliminated — Second Round (swept by OKC)
The Lakers went out in a sweep, but Rui Hachimura had nothing to do with it. Over 10 playoff games (six against Houston in the first round, four against OKC), he averaged 17.5 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 3.3 threes per game while shooting 54.9% from the floor and 56.9% from three. That three-point percentage is the highest in NBA playoff history.
Rui Hachimura INSANE 3-point shooting
— Basketball Performances (@NBAPerformances) May 8, 2026
Regular season: 44.3% (3.9 attempts per game)
Playoffs: 57.1% (5.3 attempts per game) pic.twitter.com/Mvcg02GA1B
He scored in double digits in every single game. He hit five or more threes twice. In Game 4 against OKC, with the Lakers’ season on the line and Hachimura coming off 25 points on 9-of-15 shooting, coach JJ Redick pulled him from the floor for the final 12 seconds, trailing by three, and drew up a play for Austin Reaves that didn’t work. The internet did not take it well, and honestly, fair enough.
The kicker is that Hachimura heads into the summer as an unrestricted free agent off the best postseason of his career. His regular season line was a more modest 11.5 points in 32 minutes, but the playoffs revealed what Gonzaga fans already knew: the dude’s a winner. The Lakers would be wise to bring him back. See below for some Zag on Zag playoff violence.
RUI HACHIMURA🔥🔥🔥#LakeShow#NBAPLAYOFFS#NBAHighlight#NBAJPNpic.twitter.com/A5hqDfWZRU
— NBA Japan (@NBAJPN) May 12, 2026
Jalen Suggs | Orlando Magic | Eliminated, First Round (lost Game 7 to Detroit)
The fifth overall pick in 2021 keeps adding chapters to a career that consistently delivers on the defensive end while leaving the offensive ceiling somewhat unresolved. This season was his best yet in terms of playmaking: a career-high 5.4 assists to go with 13.9 points and 1.9 steals across 57 games, though injuries again cost him 25 regular-season games.
year 5 for Jalen Suggs ✔️
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) May 13, 2026
13.8 PTS
5.5 AST
1.8 STL pic.twitter.com/Lgx8oIx0Sa
The Magic had to claw through the play-in just to face the top-seeded Pistons, which made their seven-game push all the more impressive. Suggs had his moments: 16 points in Game 1, 19 points in Game 2. But Game 7 told the familiar story. Six points on 2-of-9 shooting, four steals and two blocks, a guy who showed up fully on one end and couldn’t find his shot when it mattered most. Orlando lost 116-94 and went home.
At 24, he still has time to round it out, and the defensive reputation is legitimate. But for a former Zag billed as a two-way star coming out of Spokane, the scoring consistency and injury concerns linger.
Jalen Suggs blocks Cade Cunningham! pic.twitter.com/2l2vWQUvDE
— Orlando Magic (@OrlandoMagic) May 3, 2026
Julian Strawther | Denver Nuggets | Eliminated, First Round (lost to Minnesota 4-2)
The frustrating part of the Strawther story is the timing. Across a 57-game regular season, he averaged 7.2 points in a limited role, but when Denver’s injury situation opened the door in the final stretch, he walked through it: 22 points against OKC, then 25 against San Antonio in the regular season finale, looking every bit like a guy who belonged in the rotation. Then the playoffs started, the full roster came back, and coach David Adelman dropped him entirely. He was a DNP by Game 2 against Minnesota.
Denver lost to the Timberwolves in six. Strawther watched.
Nuggets go to Chicago (pindown + handoff) action for Cam Johnson, it's defended well, so they find Julian Strawther on the second side.
— Matt Brooks (@MattBrooksNBA) April 7, 2026
He beats his man for the floater.
This offense just keeps humming. pic.twitter.com/vMy4FQjMNT
He is 24, still on a rookie deal, and the shot’s still there. But three years in, the NBA has yet to deliver him a consistent role on a team that has consistently needed wings. That’s a front office problem as much as a player one, and next year’s situation bears watching.
Love when Denver empties out a side of the floor in semi-transition and goes to this inverted pick-and-pop between Nikola Jokić and Julian Strawther pic.twitter.com/5aLtCU9sct
— Matt Brooks (@MattBrooksNBA) April 4, 2026
Corey Kispert | Atlanta Hawks | Eliminated, First Round (lost to New York 4-2)
Corey’s season has two acts. Act one: a bench role in Washington on a rebuilding team going nowhere. Act two: a January trade to Atlanta as part of the Trae Young deal, landing him on a Hawks squad that nobody expected to make the playoffs, and then proceeded to go 46-36 and win the 6-seed outright. In 39 games with Atlanta, Kispert averaged 9.2 points, 2.3 rebounds, and 1.5 threes in 18.2 minutes off the bench. Solid. Useful. Exactly what a role player on a good team is supposed to be.
The playoff run ended at the hands of the Knicks in six. Kispert’s Game 6 line was four points on 1-of-7 shooting in a 140-89 blowout.
He is under contract through next season and will turn 27 in March. The shooting stroke is as smooth as it’s ever been, and his role in Atlanta is well defined. For a former Gonzaga wing who came into the league with questions about whether the shot would travel, the answer has been yes, consistently, for five years now.
Well, ALRIGHT then, Corey Kispert. Career-high 33 points on 77.8% true shooting against his former team. pic.twitter.com/jAUVi51Ep3
— ALL NBA Podcast (@ALLCITY_NBA) February 27, 2026
Drew Timme | Los Angeles Lakers | Did Not Make the Playoff Roster
Gonzaga’s all-time leading scorer spent the year bouncing between the Lakers and their G League affiliate in South Bay, once again searching for the right team to make the right choice and just give him an actual contract. When the Lakers’ frontcourt got thin mid-season, Timme stepped in and made the most of it: a career-high 21 points against Portland, LeBron James publicly calling him “an NBA player” after the game, genuine organizational buzz around a guy who had been fighting for a foothold in the league for three years.
from college teammates to NBA rivals
— 𝙎𝙠𝙮𝙚𝙙 🇦🇺 (@SkyedOKC) April 8, 2026
Chet Holmgren and Drew Timme pic.twitter.com/bWRtg1zRAL
Then the playoffs arrived, and the Lakers had one roster spot to fill. They chose guard Nick Smith Jr. over Timme, citing backcourt depth with Luka Doncic and Austin Reaves both banged up. Timme’s two-way contract made him ineligible regardless, and that was that.
He finished the regular season averaging 3.4 points in 23 NBA appearances, numbers that don’t begin to capture what he showed in his best moments. The G League numbers do: averaging over 24 points per game with South Bay this season. At 25, he needs a standard contract and a real role, and there’s enough tape now to suggest he deserves a shot at both.
Three Gonzaga alums get the starting nod in the Los Angeles Lakers (Rui Hachimura, Drew Timme) vs. Oklahoma City Thunder (Chet Holmgren) matchup. https://t.co/mn0WfV1PNH
— The Slipper Still Fits (@slipperstillfit) April 8, 2026
Thirteen Zags on NBA rosters, seven in the playoffs, one hunting a second straight championship, and another setting all-time playoff shooting records. From Holmgren anchoring a dynasty to Timme scratching for every minute on a two-way deal, the full spectrum of what an NBA career looks like runs right through Gonzaga’s alumni list this year.
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