Gonzaga players who have won an NBA championship

Either Chet Holmgren or Andrew Nembhard will become the fourth Gonzaga player to win an NBA title, joining a short list of former program standouts who've taken home the Larry O'Brien trophy.

Here's a look at the other three Zags who won an NBA championship.

Gonzaga players with an NBA championship

Adam Morrison (2009, 2010)

After being selected third overall in 2006 and suffering an ACL injury the following season, Morrison was traded to the Los Angeles Lakers in the middle of the 2008-09 campaign. LA went on to win 25 of its last 33 regular-season games following the Morrison trade, finishing 65-17 and earning the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference playoff picture. The Lakers beat the Utah Jazz, Houston Rockets and Denver Nuggets en route to the Finals, where they dispatched the Orlando Magic in five games to win their first title in the post-Shaquille O'Neal era.

Morrison earned his second NBA championship as LA won back-to-back titles with a seven-game series win over the Boston Celtics in the 2010 Finals. The former All-American and Wooden Award recipient didn't play in either championship series, though Morrison's impact on the team was perhaps best described by the late Kobe Bryant during an episode of the Jimmy Kimmel Live show following the 2010 Finals.

"Adam can really play," Bryant said. "Like he can really, really, really go. And for him to take a step back and to do things like that really helped us get to that championship level."

LA released Morrison after the 2009-10 season. He played two more professional seasons overseas before returning to the States for one last attempt at the NBA in 2012. Morrison averaged 20 points with the Los Angeles Clippers Summer League team and signed with the Portland Trail Blazers in September 2012, though he was waived a month later.

Morrison was named the color commentator for the Gonzaga men's basketball radio broadcasts in October 2017.

Ronny Turiaf (2012)

The 2011-12 campaign was hectic. There was a 161-day lockout that delayed the start of the regular season from November to December, reducing the length of the season from 82 to 66 games in the process. Teams couldn't sign or even contact players during the work stoppage.

Once a new collective bargaining agreement was ratified on Dec. 8, training camps, trades and free agency began all at once the next day, making for quite an eventful offseason/preseason mash-up in the lead up to the new regular season start date: Christmas.

Turiaf, who had broken his hand that summer while playing for his home France, in a EuroBasket event, was heading into the shortened 2011-12 season with the New York Knicks. But two days after the CBA was established, he was dealt to the Washington Wizards in a three-team trade involving the Dallas Mavericks.

That was just the tip of the iceberg for Turiaf. On March 15, 2012, the Mavs traded him to the Denver Nuggets in another three-team trade, only for Denver to then waive him three days later. Turiaf signed with the Miami Heat on March 21, his third stop in less than a week and his fourth team of the season.

The fourth time ended up being the charm for Turiaf, as LeBron James, Dwyane Wade and Chris Bosh led the Heat to the first of two championships together, taking out the Oklahoma City Thunder in five games to clinch the 2012 NBA title. Turiaf logged three minutes in the decisive Game 5 victory over a young OKC squad that was led by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden.

Turiaf was inserted into the starting lineup throughout the Heat's run to the Finals, making brief runs in the conference semifinals against the Indiana Pacers and in the Eastern Conference Finals games against the Boston Celtics.

After the 2011-12 campaign, Turiaf signed with the Los Angeles Clippers as a free agent. He joined the Minnesota Timberwolves the following offseason and played two more seasons before announcing his retirement in 2016.

Austin Daye (2014)

Daye began the 2013-14 campaign as a member of the Toronto Raptors after signing a contract as a free agent earlier that summer, though his time north of the border was somewhat short-lived once Toronto dealt him to the San Antonio Spurs on Feb. 20, 2014.

Daye's playing time with his new team ramped up heading into the postseason, but the 6-foot-11 forward played in just one playoff game during the Spurs' championship run. Nonetheless, Daye earned his one and only NBA title as the Spurs took down the Heat in five games to clinch their fifth championship in franchise history.

Daye played one more season, splitting time between the Spurs and Atlanta Hawks, before wrapping up a six-year NBA career that began with the Detroit Pistons as the No. 15 overall pick in the 2009 draft. Daye averaged 5.2 points and 2.6 rebounds across 293 career games.

Close calls

The last time a former Gonzaga player got close to hoisting the Larry O'Brien Trophy was in 2020, when Kelly Olynyk and the Heat advanced their way through the bubble playoffs to face James and the Lakers in the championship round. Olynyk played a crucial role off the bench, especially during a 24-point effort from the All-American in Game 2, followed by a 17-point outing in a Game 3 win over LA. But the Lakers proved to be too overwhelming over the course of the five-game series, as James won his fourth title and LA raised banner No. 17 with a 4-1 series win over the Heat.

John Stockton and the Jazz made it out of the West twice in the late 90s, only to come face-to-face with Michael Jordan and the Chicago Bulls at the height of their powers. Pushing both championship series to six games can be considered an accomplishment in it of itself for Stockton and company, considering no one else was standing in the way of Chicago back then.

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