Tag: irish in the NBA

Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: Jan. 20-26

One player got to go overseas this past week.

Former Notre Dame guard [autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] had the opportunity of a lifetime this past week. He traveled with the San Antonio Spurs to Paris to play two games against the Indiana Pacers. He appeared in both games, and while he failed to score in either one, he did have three assists and a steal in the first game.

Wesley also was the subject of a very prominent post we published this past week. We sat down for an interview with his parents Derrick and Leslie. Our thanks again to them for taking the time to do that.

Back in the U.S., [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag], Notre Dame’s other active NBA player, got some playing time with the Milwaukee Bucks. He scored his only basket while also grabbing five rebounds and dishing out three assists Jan. 23 against the Miami Heat. He had one more rebound and two more assists Jan. 25 against the Los Angeles Clippers, bringing his weekly averages to 1.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 2.5 assists.

Here is a gallery of both players from the past week:

FIW Exclusive: Interview with parents of San Antonio Spurs’ Blake Wesley

Hear some great insights from the parents of Notre Dame-turned-NBA player.

[autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] played with Notre Dame for only one season, but he did enough to leave a lasting impact. He led the Irish with 14.4 points and 1.3 steals a game and was second in assists with 2.4 a game. He was a major reason for the Irish’s most recent trip to the NCAA Tournament in 2022, their first in five years.

Wesley now is in the middle of his third season with the San Antonio Spurs, averaging 3.4 points and 1.9 assists over 27 games off the bench. He will turn 22 later this season, so he has a lot of room to grow still.

Perhaps nobody is prouder of Wesley than his parents Derrick and Leslie, who have lived in South Bend almost their entire lives. They were kind enough to take time to speak with us about their son. We touched on his past, present and future as a basketball player.

Here now is the full interview with the parents of one of only two active NBA players who came from the Irish:

Audio Player

For Wesley in action, here are some highlights from earlier this season:

Hope you enjoy all of this, and our thanks again to Derrick and Leslie for their time.

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Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: Jan. 13-19

Read about these two players’ weeks in the Association.

Notre Dame’s two active NBA players got some playing time over the past week. Objectively though, they didn’t do anything that would cause people to turn heads.

[autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] had five points, three rebounds and five assists during the Milwaukee Bucks’ Jan. 14 victory over the Sacramento Kings. He followed that up the next night with three points, a rebound and an assist to help the Bucks defeat the Orlando Magic. For the week, he averaged 4.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 3.0 assists a game.

[autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] was held scoreless in his first two games of the week with the San Antonio Spurs. However, he combined for three assists in those games, which were played Jan. 13 against the Los Angeles Lakers and Jan. 17 against the Memphis Grizzlies. He finally got that elusive basket and tacked on two more assists in a Jan. 19 loss to the Miami Heat. He averaged 0.7 points and 1.7 assists a game during the week.

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Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: Jan. 6-12

One player actually did all right this week all things considered.

Notre Dame’s two NBA representatives played in three games over the past week, one after the other. So it makes sense to talk about those games chronologically.

It began Jan. 6 when [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] made a single field goal and had a rebound and assist in the Milwaukee Bucks’ victory over the Toronto Raptors. Connaughton didn’t play when the Bucks hosted [autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag]’s San Antonio Spurs on Jan. 8, but Wesley did, collecting two rebounds in under three minutes.

Connaughton wrapped up the week during the Bucks’ Jan. 12 loss to the New York Knicks at Madison Square Garden. In a hair under 16 minutes, he scored eight points, grabbed five boards, and dished out two assists. That meant for the week, he averaged 5.0 points, 3.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists a game.

Although there isn’t a lot to report for the two players this week, it still is more than some of what we’ve had to work with in recent weeks. Unless both can work their way back into their respective rotations, this is how it will be for the rest of the season.

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Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: Dec. 30-Jan. 5

We actually have game action to talk about this week.

After a week of neither former Notre Dame player in NBA seeing game action, it finally happened again this past week. Granted, both players only saw only one game of action apiece, but it still was an improvement from the stretches they just had experienced.

[autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] saw action with the San Antonio Spurs for the first time in five games in a 36-point win over the Los Angeles Clippers on New Year’s Eve. In over eight-and-a-half minutes, he made his lone field-goal attempt, dished out four assists and blocked one shot.

[autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] found minutes with the Milwaukee Bucks for the first time in six games Jan. 2 in a three-point loss to the Brooklyn Nets. Over nine-and-a-half minutes, he shot 1 of 3 from the field, grabbed four rebounds and had an assist, steal and block.

It’s hard to know when either player will see the court again, but this stretch at least gives us hope that it will happen sooner than later.

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Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: Dec. 16-22

Not a great week for the former Irish in the Association.

Notre Dame’s NBA representation found some team success this past week but not much in terms of individual accomplishment. That tends to happen when both players have fallen way down on their respective teams’ depth charts.

[autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] won the NBA Cup when the Milwaukee Bucks defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in the final in Las Vegas. He recorded 12 minutes in the game but no points. He did however make a 3-pointer and grab a rebound when the Bucks returned to regular games Dec. 20 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

As minimal as Connaughton’s contributions were, that was the case even more with [autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag]. The San Antonio Spurs played only two games over the past week, and Wesley only played in the Spurs’ Dec. 21 blowout win over the Portland Trail Blazers. He dished out one assist, and that was the extent of his positive contributions to the Spurs’ cause.

It’s a trying time for the former Irish in the NBA, and there’s no sign of that improving anytime soon.

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Former Notre Dame guard wins NBA Cup with Milwaukee Bucks

Congrats, Pat!

Former Notre Dame guard [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] won the 2021 NBA championship with the Milwaukee Bucks. Four seasons later, his role with the Bucks has greatly diminished. However, he still is collecting hardware with them.

The Bucks defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder, 97-81, in Las Vegas to win the 2024 NBA Cup, culminating the second such competition. So Connaughton now has two different championships since arriving in Milwaukee.

Connaughton had not played in 10 of the Bucks’ past 12 games, a consequence of falling out of the Bucks’ rotation. However, he did log over 12 minutes of playing time in this game. He missed his lone shot, a 3-point attempt, but recorded an assist, and he’s done at least once in every game he’s played in this season.

It’s hard to tell what the future holds for Connaughton, who turns 32 in early January and has only one year left on his contract. At least he’ll have this highlight this season.

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Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: Dec. 9-15

One of them didn’t play at all this past week.

Former Notre Dame guard [autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] had a couple of opportunities to prove himself with the San Antonio Spurs this past week. After not playing in a Dec. 8 win against the New Orleans Pelicans, he scored eight points and tied his season high with eight assists Dec. 13 to help beat the Portland Trail Blazers. Four points and five assists while losing to the Minnesota Timberwolves on Dec. 15 meant averaging 6.0 points and 6.5 assists for the week.

With the Milwaukee Bucks winning a couple of games to advance to the NBA Cup final, Doc Rivers opted to leave [autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] on the bench the entire week. While it’s hard to tell what will happen when the Bucks battle the Oklahoma City Thunder for the title Dec. 17, this past week suggests Connaughton won’t play in that game either unless it’s a blowout and Rivers empties his bench. It’s tough to see Connaughton drop out of the Bucks’ rotation, but that’s the life of an NBA player, especially as one gets older.

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Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: Dec. 2-8

This week was…not great.

All that can be said about Notre Dame’s NBA representation is that it’s had far better weeks. It probably is best for Irish fans to forget about this past week completely.

[autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] played in only game for the Milwaukee Bucks out of a possible four. That came Dec. 4 against the Atlanta Hawks, and his five minutes were the fewest in any game he’s played this season. The only meaningful stats he registered were one assist and one block.

[autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] saw action in two of the four games the San Antonio Spurs played but didn’t fare much better. He made a single free throw Dec. 5 against the Chicago Bulls before collecting an assist the next night against the Sacramento Kings.

It’s hard to know what if anything will allow the two former Irish players to have more playing time this season. What isn’t hard to know is that it can’t get much more blah if not worse than this past week.

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Pat Connaughton/Blake Wesley NBA Tracker: Nov. 25-Dec. 1

Both players had one good game each.

Notre Dame’s two NBA representatives didn’t play much during the past week, but both either tied or set their scoring highs for the season.

[autotag]Pat Connaughton[/autotag] saw action in exactly one game, but he made it count. In the Milwaukee Bucks’ Nov. 26 win over the Miami Heat, he scored 10 points in his second straight game, though it also was his first game in 10 days. He also set season highs with eight rebounds and two blocks while also dishing out an assist.

[autotag]Blake Wesley[/autotag] shined during the San Antonio Spurs’ Nov. 26 victory against the Utah Jazz. His 11 points were the most he’s scored in a game this season, and he also had three rebounds, four assists and two steals. He wasn’t so great the next night against the Los Angeles Lakers as he didn’t score at all while missing three field-goal attempts.

Hopefully, this past week was a sign that things are starting to turn around this season for both Connaughton and Wesley.

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