Another former Arizona Wildcat is heading to the NBA Finals. The San Antonio Spurs beat defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder 111-103 in game seven of the Western Conference Finals, which means Carter Bryant will be heading to the finals in his rookie season.

He becomes the third Arizona alumni to reach the finals in his rookie season since Luke Walton did it with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2004. The other player was Richard Jefferson with the New Jersey Nets in 2002.

This is now the 12th consecutive season that an Arizona Wildcat will participate in the NBA FInals. Last season, it was T.J. McConnell and Bennedict Mathurin with the Indiana Pacers to make the finals, but unfortunately they could not get the job done. 

Aaron Gordon and Zeke Nnaji were the last Arizona Wildcats to win the NBA Finals when they won with the Denver Nuggets in 2023.

Bryant was drafted by the Spurs in last year’s NBA Draft with the 14th overall pick. His rookie season has given him a bit of everything.

Earlier this season, he participated in the NBA dunk contest and was beaten in the championship by another former Wildcat in Keshad Johnson. Fast forward and Bryant will now be playing on the NBA’s biggest stage.

The conference finals did bring a lot of struggle but in typical Arizona fashion he responded. From being chewed out by his coach to having some of the loudest plays, Bryant has taken big steps in his basketball development.

He only played three minutes in game seven but in those three minutes he was able to score a bucket on an NBA all-star and not make any mistakes. 

Bryant also had an authoritative dunk in game six to help force a seventh game.

It’s one thing for your coach to stick by you, but when you have one of the best players in the world continuously supporting you, the work ethic can never fade. Victor Wembanyama, along with the rest of the Spurs, have never lost faith in Bryant.

The New York Knicks were the team from the eastern conference awaiting their NBA Finals opponent. This is a team that not only San Antonio has struggled against, but Bryant has seen major struggles.

In the two regular season games between New York and San Antonio, Bryant played a total of 11 minutes and did not score. It will certainly be interesting to see how much he will be played in his first finals appearance. The first opportunity he could have will be next Wednesday in game one.