Former West Virginia basketball stars Jevon Carter and Miles McBride are both playoff bound, as Carter’s Milwaukee Bucks stand atop the Eastern Conference with a 56-22 record, while McBride’s New York Knicks just clinched a playoff berth.
Jevon Carter, a key piece of Bob Huggins’ “Press Virginia” teams, has had a career year for the first place Bucks, as the Maywood, Illinois native is averaging a career-high 7.9 points per game as an important role player off the bench.
Carter brings his hard-nosed, defensive style of play to the talented Milwaukee lineup, but what’s helped Carter take that next step this year has been his ability to knock down shots. Currently, Carter is 13th in the NBA in three-point percentage, as the former Mountaineer is shooting the three-ball at 42.4%. Carter’s 42.4% from beyond the arc is also good for eighth best in the NBA among players that have attempted at least 500 three-point shots.
In his second season with the Bucks, Carter has seen his minutes per game go from 17.7 per game in 2021-2022 to 22.3 in the 2022-2023 season. When the playoffs rolled around last season, Carter’s role off the bench started to diminish, but with a larger role this season, the former Mountaineer is likely to see meaningful playoff minutes.
As for New York’s Miles McBride, the two-year West Virginia guard has had to fight a little harder to get into a rotation. McBride is currently averaging 3.4 points per game in his second season with the Knicks, but a two-way contract has had the Cincinnati native in the NBA G-League for a few stints this year.
McBride has shown glimpses of serious potential for head coach Tom Thibodeau with five different double-digit games, including a season-high 18 points against the Trail Blazers on March 14th.
With four games left for Milwaukee, the Bucks are currently projected to play against the 39-39 Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the playoffs as the No. 1 seed in the Eastern Conference. As for McBride and the Knicks, they will have a tougher road ahead in the opening round, as New York is currently projected to play against the fourth-seeded Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round.
No matter the results Carter and McBride see, it is a large accomplishment that the only two former West Virginia athletes on NBA rosters have a spot in the NBA playoffs.
In addition, to these two, another former Mountaineer will be manning the sidelines for the Boston Celtics, as head coach Joe Mazzulla currently has the Celtics with the second-best record in the Eastern Conference.
