The North Carolina men’s basketball team has a rich history of representation in the NBA, with former Tar Heels such as Michael Jordan, Rasheed Wallace and Vince Carter continuing their basketball careers in the league.
With the All-Star break and midway point of the NBA season quickly approaching, here’s a look at how some former Tar Heels are performing.
Harrison Barnes
Barnes was a prolific scorer at UNC, erupting with 40 points against Clemson in the ACC Tournament during his first season while averaging 16.3 points per game as a Tar Heel.
Barnes recently reached a significant milestone in his NBA career this season with a 29-point performance against the Milwaukee Bucks, which gave him his 10,000th career point in the NBA. Only 54 other active players have reached this milestone.
In his 10th season, Barnes is still scoring at a high level for the Sacramento Kings, whose 18-34 record has them in 13th in the Western Conference. Barnes posted a season-high 36 points in Sacramento’s season-opening win against the Portland Trail Blazers, and his 16.4 points per game makes him the Kings’ second-leading scorer. Barnes is also supplementing his scoring with an average of six rebounds and over two assists per game.
The Kings currently sit 3.5 games out of the Play-In Tournament with 30 games left in the regular season. If Sacramento can manage to make the tournament and then get into the playoffs, it’ll be Barnes’ first time in the playoffs since the 2015-2016 season when he was a member of the 73-win Golden State Warriors.
Coby White
After missing the first 13 games of the season while recovering from labrum surgery over the summer, Coby White returned to action midway through November against the Los Angeles Lakers. While White had a slow start to the season, he made his presence felt in his fourth game with a 14-point performance in a win against the New York Knicks.
