UCONN Professional Athletes

The Husky Footprint Is Already Hard to Ignore

Three UConn alumni made legitimate early-season statements in the NBA's opening week — and none of them quietly.

Andre Drummond: Brilliant, Then Bipolar

The most eye-catching debut of the week belonged to Andre Drummond, who signed with the Knicks this offseason after several seasons with Philadelphia — replacing Mitchell Robinson, who departed for Boston. Drummond made an immediate case for himself on Opening Night against the 76ers, posting 12 points, 14 rebounds, 4 assists, a steal, and 2 blocks in 24 minutes in a 100-106 Knicks loss. The first half was the stuff of highlight reels: historic bench production that had the Garden buzzing. The second half told a different story — Drummond faded badly, and New York couldn't close.

The performance captured exactly what makes Drummond compelling and maddening. His passing, defensive activity, and screen-setting have already impressed the Knicks' coaching staff beyond his traditional rebounding role. But the second-half disappearing act was a reminder of the "bipolarity" that has defined his career. In the rematch against the Celtics — New York's championship hangover game — Drummond managed just 2 points and 2 rebounds in 7 minutes as the Knicks fell 103-107. There was also the matter of his skipping the championship ring ceremony before tip-off on Opening Night, which Drummond addressed publicly, offering his reasoning for staying back in the locker room. It was a strange sidebar to an already complicated debut week.

Stephon Castle: The Shot That Could Change Everything

In San Antonio, Stephon Castle delivered a performance that may reshape how the Spurs deploy their young core. In a season-opening loss to OKC (104-116), Castle erupted for 24 points and 7 rebounds, drilling 5 of 12 three-point attempts — a new career high in threes made in a single game. For a player whose shooting range had been a question mark, the outburst was significant. If Castle can become a credible three-point threat alongside Victor Wembanyama and Dylan Harper, San Antonio's offensive ceiling rises considerably.

The Spurs lost, and Castle was candid afterward about how difficult it was to guard back-to-back MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. But his own offensive breakout was the more durable takeaway. Against Houston on Saturday, Castle followed up with 15 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists — consistent production, even in another Spurs loss (110-114).

Donovan Clingan: Steady Off the Bench in Portland

The quietest of the three storylines belonged to Donovan Clingan, but it's no less real. The Trail Blazers center logged a +25 in just 20 minutes during Portland's blowout of Phoenix (124-83) on Thursday — a game in which Ja Morant and Damian Lillard made their debut together in the backcourt. Clingan finished with 11 points, 7 rebounds, and 2 assists that night. On Saturday against Sacramento, he posted 8 points, 10 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 blocks in 19 minutes in a 128-120 Blazers win, ending the week with a double-double off the bench.

At 19 minutes per game, Clingan isn't dominating box scores — but his efficiency and plus-minus numbers suggest he's already contributing winning basketball in Portland.

---

One week in, three UConn alumni are doing what Husky fans expected: competing. Whether Drummond's full-game consistency catches up to his first-half brilliance, whether Castle's shooting holds, and whether Clingan earns more run are the questions worth tracking all season.

Castle's Moment — and San Antonio's Gamble

Stephon Castle isn't easing into Year 3. The former UConn guard is penciled in as a starter for the San Antonio Spurs on opening night as part of a three-guard lineup alongside De'Aaron Fox and rookie Dylan Harper — a bold configuration that has the NBA watching and analysts reaching for caution tape.

The arrangement isn't entirely new. The Spurs experimented with the trio in limited stretches last season, and by their own admission, it struggled. ClutchPoints flagged those growing pains with a "warning label" as San Antonio committed to rolling it out from Game 1. But context matters: this is a franchise that just came off an NBA Finals appearance against the Knicks, and coach Mitch Johnson (alongside incoming coordinator Billy Donovan) has the buy-in of the roster.

Fox, for his part, isn't sweating it. He told The Sporting News he has full confidence that the coaching staff can develop all three guards into cohesive stars — a vote of trust that matters when you're being asked to coexist in one of the most talent-dense backcourts in recent memory.

Castle's preseason backed up the optimism. He posted 19 points in a 128-97 win over the Kings and added 18 more in a 123-103 rout of the Suns. When Victor Wembanyama was asked about the three-guard unit's sluggish preseason debut, he shrugged it off — not alarmed, just calibrating. Castle is the least heralded name in that trio nationally, but UConn fans know what he's capable of. Opening night is his chance to remind everyone else.

---

Hawkins Turns Heads in Chicago

While Castle commands the bigger spotlight, Jordan Hawkins is quietly building a case in Chicago. The Bulls' second-year guard lit up the Timberwolves in the preseason finale, dropping 14 points off the bench on 4-of-5 shooting from three-point range in a 133-116 Bulls win. It was the kind of performance that sticks in a coaching staff's memory when rotation decisions get made in the first weeks of a season.

Hawkins enters 2026-27 in a bench role, but efficiency like that from distance is a quick ticket to meaningful minutes. In a Bulls system still sorting out its identity, a reliable shooter who can get hot in a hurry is exactly the kind of player that earns trust fast.

---

Rest of the Huskies

Two other UConn alumni are worth a brief mention as the season opens. Andre Drummond returns for his 15th NBA season on a veteran minimum deal with the Knicks, where the coaching staff has been openly complimentary about his floor communication during preseason — calling it "unbelievable," per Yahoo Sports. He's the backup behind Karl-Anthony Towns, but Drummond has always found ways to make himself useful.

Liam McNeeley, Charlotte's first-round pick, faces the steepest climb. Sports Illustrated outlined his path to rotation minutes with the Hornets as real but narrow — raw talent with work left to do before he's a reliable rotation piece. The path exists; the timetable is less certain.

The 2026-27 season is young, but the early UConn headline belongs to Castle. How San Antonio's three-guard experiment holds up could be the defining storyline of the Spurs' season — and one of the most-watched backcourt experiments in the league.

The NBA preseason has a way of sorting out who belongs and who's fighting for a lifeline — and two UConn alumni find themselves on opposite ends of that spectrum heading into the 2026-27 season.

Jordan Hawkins Lands with the Bulls After Memphis Waiver

Jordan Hawkins' roster journey took another sharp turn this week. The Grizzlies waived the former 14th overall pick last Friday, just weeks after acquiring him from the New Orleans Pelicans in a four-player deal that also involved Micah Peavy, AJ Johnson, and Taj Gibson. The stint in Memphis was brief and unceremonious.

But Chicago came calling fast. The Bulls signed Hawkins to a two-way contract Monday, filling their open spot with the 2023 draft pick who, at just a few years into his professional career, is already on his third organization. ESPN's Shams Charania first broke the news of the agreement.

The two-way designation is a meaningful reality check — it's not a guaranteed roster spot, and it comes with strict limitations on big-league game days. But it's also a legitimate foothold. Hawkins, a sharp shooter out of Storrs, has the skill set to stick in an NBA rotation if the opportunity presents itself. Whether Chicago gives him consistent run to prove it is the question that will define his season.

Andre Drummond Is Making the Knicks Forget Mitchell Robinson

Across the league, in a far less precarious position, Andre Drummond is quietly putting together a compelling preseason case in New York. According to Sports Illustrated, Drummond has impressed through his first two preseason games — enough to ease the Knicks' concerns about replacing Mitchell Robinson's rebounding and interior defense.

Robinson's absence created a real void for a New York team with championship aspirations. Drummond, the UConn product who has carved out a long and productive NBA career largely on the strength of elite rebounding, appears to be a credible stopgap. "Quietly" is the operative word in the SI report — this isn't a loud, highlight-reel story. It's a veteran center doing what veteran centers do: showing up, doing the dirty work, and giving a contender's front office reasons to exhale.

At this stage of Drummond's career, fitting cleanly into a winning system matters more than raw numbers. Two preseason games won't settle anything, but the early returns suggest he's earning trust in the right ways.

Also Watching: Castle, Jackson Jr., and the Rest of the Herd

Elsewhere in the UConn diaspora, Stephon Castle continues to cement his place in San Antonio's increasingly exciting guard rotation alongside De'Aaron Fox and Dylan Harper — though the Spurs' storyline belongs more to Harper and Fox than to Castle right now.

Andre Jackson Jr.'s week was rougher: the Raptors waived the UConn guard Monday in a corresponding move to sign forward Tyson Degenhart, leaving Jackson Jr. looking for a new home as rosters tighten across the league.

Donovan Clingan, meanwhile, is part of Portland's young core as the Trail Blazers head into a new era under head coach Micah Nori — though the preseason spotlight there has been on the broader roster rebuild rather than Clingan specifically.

Two weeks before opening night, UConn's NBA footprint is as wide as ever. Whether it deepens depends on how Hawkins plays on a two-way timeline — and whether Drummond keeps giving New York exactly what it needs.