STANFORD, Calif. - The NBA season opened on Tuesday, Oct. 21, while all of the Cardinal alumni will see their opening games tip off on Wednesday, Oct. 22.
The Cardinal is set to have five players on NBA rosters this season in Brook Lopez (LA Clippers), Dwight Powell (Dallas Mavericks), Ziaire Williams (Brooklyn Nets), Spencer Jones (Denver Nuggets) and 2025 draft pick Maxime Raynaud (Sacramento Kings). Additionally, Mitch Johnson begins his first full season, and second total, as head coach of the San Antonio Spurs.
Stanford is one of six ACC schools to have at least five NBA alumni on opening day rosters, joining Duke, Florida State, North Carolina, Virginia and Wake Forest, and one of just three ACC schools with at least five NBA alumni and an active NBA head coach, along with Duke and Virginia.
Two years removed from leading the Association in blocks, Lopez ranked third in the category in 2024-25 with the Milwaukee Bucks (1.9/game) to go along with averages of 13.0 points and 5.0 rebounds per game. Powell, who helped lead the Mavericks to the 2024 NBA Finals - the first Cardinal player to appear since Lopez in 2021 - averaged 2.1 points and 2.1 rebounds per game last season.
Entering his fifth NBA campaign, Williams averaged career-bests of 10.0 points, and 4.6 rebounds per game for the Nets a year ago, starting 45 of 63 games, while Jones made 20 appearances for the Nuggets in his rookie season, scoring 1.3 points per game. Raynaud’s dazzling performances continued into NBA Summer League with the Kings, who finished in second place as Raynaud averaged 12.8 points and 6.0 rebounds per night.
Additionally, Kyle Smith has three players from his Washington State tenure in the NBA: Jaylen Wells (Memphis Grizzlies), Isaac Jones (Washington State) and Mouhamed Gueye (Atlanta Hawks), while Jamaree Bouyea, who played for Smith at San Francisco, was on the preseason roster for the Milwaukee Bucks.