The Gators will get an NBA Championship in 2022
Regardless of who wins the NBA Finals this year, a former member of the Florida Gators men’s basketball program will win a championship.
The Gators are represented by Boston Celtics center Al Horford and Golden State Warriors guard Chris Chiozza. Both are looking to win their first ring in the NBA.
The NBA Finals start Thursday at 9 p.m. when the Warriors host the Celtics in San Francisco in the best of seven series.
In the regular season, Horford averaged 10.9 points and a team-leading 7.7 rebounds while shooting 46.7% from field goal range.
In the playoffs, nearly all of Horford’s numbers have increased as he’s averaged 36.7 minutes through the 17 games compared to the 29.1 minutes per game he played in the regular season.
The five-time NBA All-Star center has averaged 11.9 points and 9.6 rebounds while shooting 50% from the field. He’s playing some of his basketball in his 15th NBA season as he heads into his first NBA Finals.
Horford is well known for his part in helping the Gators in winning back-to-back national championships in the 2005-06 and 2006-07 seasons. In his three-year career in Gainesville, he averaged 10.3 points and 7.9 rebounds while shooting 58.6% from the field.
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Chiozza, on the other hand, is also making his first NBA Finals appearance in his fourth season in the league.
During the regular season, the 5-foot-11 guard averaged 2 points and 1.9 assists while shooting 29.6% from the field. He averaged 10.9 minutes per game, but he has yet to step foot on the court this postseason for the Warriors.
In his four-year career in Gainesville, Chiozza averaged 7.4 points and 4.1 assists on 39.1% shooting. His UF legacy was cemented with a buzzer-beating three-point shot to beat the Wisconsin Badgers in the Sweet Sixteen in the 2016-17 season.
Whether it’s Horford or Chiozza, they’ll become the Gators’ ninth former player to win a title in the NBA.
