Oklahoma State's NBA Champions Paint Rich Basketball History

Oklahoma State has been sending players to the NBA for decades, and their accomplishments at the next level have helped define the program.

The state of Oklahoma is the center of the basketball universe again on Sunday, with the Oklahoma City Thunder set to host Game 2 of the NBA Finals against the Indiana Pacers. After the Thunder lost Game 1 on a last-second shot, they will be looking to rebound and get closer to their first NBA title.

While the Thunder have never managed to win a championship throughout their first 16 seasons, the state of Oklahoma isn’t exactly a stranger to players winning at the highest level. Throughout its history, OSU has sent 31 players to the NBA. Of those 31, three have gone on to win NBA championships.

The first Cowboy to secure a ring was Corey Williams in 1993 with the Chicago Bulls. As part of the final team of the first Bulls three-peat, Williams never saw the floor during the postseason, but he played in 39 games for Chicago throughout the regular season, averaging 2.3 points. Williams averaged 10.3 points per game across his four seasons in Stillwater and was a key member of Eddie Sutton’s first teams at OSU.

It took another 15 years for a Cowboy to win an NBA title, when Tony Allen won his first and only championship with the Boston Celtics in 2008. Allen was a fringe rotational player for Boston in his fourth year in the league but still was a contributor to the championship team.

Playing in 15 playoff games along the way, Allen was still finding his place in the NBA. After leaving Boston a couple of years later, Allen blossomed into one of the best defenders in the NBA but was never able to climb back to the mountaintop and win another title.

Finally, Terrel Harris is the most recent Cowboy to secure an NBA championship, winning with the Miami Heat in 2012. Harris played in just 22 games for the Heat and made only four appearances in the playoffs, but being alongside LeBron James and Dwyane Wade helped the former OSU star earn a spot in history.

With 13 years gone since the last time an OSU player won an NBA title, the Cowboys are due for one of their stars to raise the Larry O’Brien trophy.