{"id":316381,"date":"2026-05-31T10:12:31","date_gmt":"2026-05-31T10:12:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/316381\/"},"modified":"2026-05-31T10:12:31","modified_gmt":"2026-05-31T10:12:31","slug":"former-fsu-basketball-star-advances-to-nba-finals-with-san-antonio-spurs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/316381\/","title":{"rendered":"Former FSU Basketball Star Advances to NBA Finals With San Antonio Spurs"},"content":{"rendered":"

The San Antonio Spurs are back in the NBA Finals after defeating the reigning champion, the Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a>, in a thrilling Game 7 on Saturday evening. For the eighth year in a row, the NBA will have a unique champion and Finals MVP.<\/p>\n

San Antonio is led by Victor Wembanyama<\/a>, who has already made the NBA Finals in just his third season, continuing his historic pace. He won Western Conference Finals MVP and the Defensive Player of the Year award, but his competitiveness and willingness to win were tremendous to watch.<\/p>\n

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Another key piece of the Spurs is a former Florida State Seminole<\/a>. Devin Vassell started 65 of the 67 games in the regular season that he appeared in this year, averaging 13.9 PPG. He has started all 18 playoff games, averaging 13.0 PPG. He and Wembanyama have developed great chemistry on the court, as the two emphatically celebrated together after Game 7.<\/p>\n

Vassell will be the first Seminole to be on an NBA Finals roster since Okaro White<\/a>, who was on the Cleveland Cavaliers<\/a> roster in 2018. Assuming Vassell plays just one minute, he’ll be the first ‘Nole to do so since Toney Douglas<\/a> did so with the Miami Heat<\/a> in the 2014 NBA Finals.<\/p>\n

Douglas scored just 4 points in that series. The full list of former Seminoles to play in the NBA Finals is Douglas (2014), Sam Cassell (1994, 1995, 2008), Dave Cowens (1974, 1976), Charlie Ward (1999), and Mitchell Wiggins (1986). Cowens and Cassell are multi-time NBA champions, while Ward, oddly enough, lost to the San Antonio Spurs as a member of the Knicks<\/a>. 27 years later, we’re getting a rematch of those Finals.<\/p>\n

Devin Vassell Excelling in First Taste of Postseason<\/p>\n

The remarkable part about this run for the Spurs is that it’s their first time in the playoffs since 2019. Vassell was drafted in 2020. For as long as he’s been on the team, they’ve never made the postseason. And as great as he was at Florida State, which was good enough to be the 11th overall pick, they couldn’t play in the NCAA Tournament because of COVID-19 in his last season there.<\/p>\n

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It’s been a long and grueling journey for Vassell, who signed with FSU as a three-star out of Peachtree Ridge HS in Georgia. He made some critical plays as a freshman, including a corner three to tie the game in the final seconds of regulation against Virginia Tech in the ACC Tournament. He blossomed as a sophomore in 2019-20, arguably the greatest team in program history.<\/p>\n

It will forever be disappointing that FSU never got to play in the postseason that year, as they had the makings of a team that could make a deep run, and Vassell was a big part of that. Florida State fans can now vicariously root for him to win an NBA championship.<\/p>\n

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This article was originally published on www.si.com\/college\/fsu as Former FSU Basketball Star Advances to NBA Finals With San Antonio Spurs<\/a>.<\/p>\n