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Tennessee basketball: Four Vols in 2020 NBA Playoffs

By Caleb Calhoun

PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 27: Josh Richardson #0 of the Philadelphia 76ers dribbles the ball against the New York Knicks at the Wells Fargo Center on February 27, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images)
PHILADELPHIA, PA - FEBRUARY 27: Josh Richardson #0 of the Philadelphia 76ers dribbles the ball against the New York Knicks at the Wells Fargo Center on February 27, 2020 in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and/or using this photograph, user is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images
Photo by Mitchell Leff/Getty Images /

Three teams in the NBA Playoffs have Tennessee basketball Volunteers.

After Saturday’s play-in game, the 2020 NBA Playoffs were set. With tip-offs for the long-awaited postseason in the bubble beginning Monday, Tennessee basketball will have its best representation on the game’s biggest stage in years.

Four players from the Vols will be on rosters of teams competing in the coveted event. To provide context for how rare that is, only four other times in NBA history have their been at least four players from UT playing playoff professional basketball.

One of those years, 1967-1968, had six players, but five of them were ABA players, and two of them did not play. Another one of the years, 1997-1998, involved one player who transferred out of Tennessee basketball and two players who didn’t play.

That leaves only two legitimate years with four former Vols on NBA playoff rosters: 1983-1984 and 2015-2016. In 2015-2016, the four players were Tobias Harris, Josh Richardson, Jordan McRae and Jarnell Stokes, but Stokes did not play in the playoffs.

As a result, if all four players in this year’s NBA Playoffs from UT actually see action during the postseason, it will mark only the second time in history that so many Vols did just that. In 1983-1984, the four Vols were Bernard King, Dale Ellis, Ernie Grunfeld and Reggie Johnson.

But who are the players from UT in the postseason this year? And what are all of their chances? Well, in this post, we’re going to break all of that down. We’ll be ranking the four players based on how much we expect them to play. Our rankings will obviously be based on what they did during the regular season and what type of potential they have.

It’s worth noting that two of the players are rookies, one of whom was undrafted, which is just another testament to how great Rick Barnes has developed the new talent at this level. So let’s go ahead and break these guys down. Here is our ranking of Tennessee basketball’s four players set to compete in the 2020 NBA Playoffs.

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