• NCAA.com Story
Four former Ohio Valley Conference men's basketball players have made National Basketball Association (NBA) rosters as the league officially kicked off its 2021-22 season on Tuesday.
The four players ranks the OVC 12th among Division I Conferences heading into the season.
The players include former Murray State players
Ja Morant (Memphis) and
Cameron Payne (Phoenix), Tennessee State's
Robert Covington (Portland) and Belmont's
Dylan Windler (Cleveland).
After winning Rookie of the Year honors in 2019-20 (one of three non-Power 5 players to win the award since 1983-84), Morant averaged 19.1 points, 7.4 assists and 4.0 rebounds per game last season, all of which improved on his rookie campaign. He started 63 games for the Grizzlies and hit 44.9 percent from the field. At Murray State Morant earned first-team consensus All-American honors, making him just the third OVC student-athlete to earn first-team consensus All-American honors joining Western Kentucky's Clem Haskins (1967) and Jim McDaniels (1971). Morant finished his final collegiate season with 331 assists, the sixth-most in NCAA single-season history. He averaged 24.5 points and 10.0 assists/game making him the first player to average 20/10 in a season since the NCAA began to officially recognize assists in 1983-84.
After being out of the NBA for a year, Payne signed a multi-year deal with the Suns last summer and made the most of his opportunity, helping Phoenix advance to the NBA Finals. It marked the fourth time in the past six years an OVC player had competed in the NBA Finals; Payne was the third all-time Murray State player to accomplish the feat. For the season he averaged 8.4 points, 3.6 assists and 2.4 rebounds/game while hitting 44.0 percent from 3-point range. Payne has also played with Oklahoma City, Chicago and Cleveland after being selected by the Oklahoma City Thunder with the 14th overall pick (last selection of the lottery), which at the time was the first OVC lottery selection since 1994. At Murray State Payne was named the 2014-15 OVC Male Athlete of the Year after averaging 20.2 points and 6.0 assists/game for a national ranking of 13 and 15. In his two seasons at MSU, Payne helped the Racers go 52-17 (.753) overall and 29-3 (.906) in the OVC. Following his final season he was named a third-team All-American by CBSSports.com, an honorable mention All-American by the Associated Press and the Lute Olson National Player of the Year by CollegeInsider.com.
Covington begins his ninth season in the NBA. After going undrafted out of Tennessee State, Covington played in the G-League before playing seven games with the Houston Rockets in 2013-14. He then played four full seasons and part of a fifth with the Philadelphia 76ers (2014-15 to 2018-19) before being traded to Minnesota. He spent parts of two seasons with the Timberwolves before playing 22 games with the Houston Rockets in 2019-20. Last year he joined the Portland Trailblazers, averaging 8.5 points, 6.7 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.2 blocks/game. Covington, who last season was the lone active player from a Historically Black College and University (HBCU) in the NBA, has helped his alma mater by donating money for a new practice facility on the TSU campus.
Windler was one of two first round draft picks out of the OVC in 2019, being selected 26th overall by Cleveland. He suffered an injury prior to the 2019-20 season and missed the entire year. Last season he appeared in 31 games, averaging 5.2 points, 3.5 rebounds and 1.1 assists/game while hitting 43.8 percent from the field. At Belmont Windler capped his collegiate career by helping the Bruins earned an at-large berth to the NCAA Tournament where they topped Temple in the First Four. In the First Round against Maryland he recorded just the seventh 35-point, 10-rebound, 5+ 3-pointers made performance in NCAA history, as he had 35 points, 11 rebounds and seven 3-pointers. During the 2018-19 season he was the only player nationally to average at least 20 points, 10 rebounds, 2.5 assists per game and shoot 40 percent from 3-point distance in 2019.
Two-time former OVC Player of the Year
Terry Taylor, who was undrafted out of Austin Peay, is on a Exhibit 10 contract with the Indiana Pacers and will begin the season in the G League. Several other former OVC players are expected to be on NBA G League rosters.
Former OVC Players on NBA Opening Night Rosters
Robert Covington, Portland Trailblazers (@Holla_At_Rob33)
Ja Morant, Memphis Grizzlies (@JaMorant)
Cameron Payne, Phoenix Suns (@campayne)
Dylan Windler, Cleveland Cavaliers (@Dylan_Windler23)