Kentucky's NBA dominance continues with most players from any college in 2024

Kentucky holds one record year after year: the most players on NBA rosters of any college. This year is no exception, as they have 31 players currently listed on an NBA roster. This may go down some as the final roster trimming hasn't happened yet. That date is October 21, which is the day before the official NBA season begins.

Kentucky, with 31 players in the NBA right now, is blowing all the competition out of the water. The next closest college is Duke, at 25, and then it's a significant drop-off to UCLA, at 16. There is only one other SEC team that even makes it to double digits: Arkansas, with 11.

SEC totals for NBA players:

Arkansas Razorbacks: 11
Alabama Crimson Tide: 9
LSU Tigers: 9
Texas Longhorns: 9
Tennessee Volunteers: 7
Auburn Tigers: 6
Florida Gators: 6
Texas A&M Aggies: 5
Vanderbilt Commodores: 5
Missouri Tigers: 4
Georgia Bulldogs: 3
Oklahoma Sooners: 3
Ole Miss Rebels: 2
Mississippi State Bulldogs: 1

Notable other program NBA player totals:

Duke Blue Devils: 25
UCLA Bruins: 16
Baylor Bears: 13
Arizona Wildcats: 12
Kansas Jayhawks: 12
North Carolina Tar Heels: 10
UCONN Huskies: 9
Louisville: 2

It is still very much true that if you want to go to the NBA, the best program to attend is the University of Kentucky. No one has produced more NBA talent than the Wildcats. They have produced 132 NBA players in their lifetime. The next closest program is UCLA, with 104, followed by North Carolina, with 102, and Duke, with 100, according to collegetransitions.com, which has been keeping track of the running total for a few years now.

We will see what the final totals come in after October 21, as there will likely be a drop in all of these totals above. However, with such a lead, Kentucky will continue its run of having the most NBA players.