On October 22, 2021, Justin Champagnie became the fourth former Pitt player to actively suit up for an NBA team when he tallied a rebound in three minutes for the Raptors in a 32-point beatdown over the Celtics.
When the 2023 NBA season tips off this coming October, the potential lies for at least three more former Panthers to stamp their names into the annals of the Association.
It all starts with the NBA Summer League, a two-week, four-game slate played in Las Vegas that will bring together the latest draftees and those undrafted hopefuls who are looking to make the next step into professional basketball.
Nike Sibande, one of the heroes of the Panthers' run through the 2023 NCAA Tournament and the reigning ACC Sixth Man of the Year, will play for the Mavericks. Au'Diese Toney, who played three seasons at Pitt before transferring to Arkansas for his final year, will suit up for the Magic after playing 28 games with its G League affiliate last season. Mouhamadou Gueye spent 11 games in the G League with the Mavericks' affiliate and will play for the Raptors in the Summer League. Champagnie, who was a depth piece for the Celtics' run to last season's Eastern Conference Finals, will play for the Celtics in the Summer League.
The schedule begins with a pair of games Thursday, but the first Pitt-related action comes Friday when Gueye's Raptors will face the Bulls at 6:30 p.m. on NBATV. All of the Mavs, Magic, Raptors, and Celtics' Summer League games will be broadcast on national television in some capacity:
MAVERICKS (Sibande)
• Saturday vs. Thunder, 3:30 p.m., ESPN2
• Monday vs. 76ers, 7 p.m., ESPNU
• Wednesday vs. Warriors, 5:30 p.m., NBATV
• July 14 vs. Pacers, 6:30 p.m., NBATV
MAGIC (Toney)
• Saturday vs. Pistons, 5:30 p.m., ESPN
• Tuesday vs. Pacers, 8:30 p.m., NBATV
• Wednesday vs. Knicks, 8 p.m., ESPN2
• July 13 vs. Trailblazers, 9 p.m., ESPN2
RAPTORS (Gueye)
• Friday vs. Bulls, 6:30 p.m., NBATV
• Sunday vs. Cavaliers, 3 p.m., NBATV
• Wednesday vs. Pistons, 6 p.m., ESPN2
• July 13 vs. Nets, 5 p.m., ESPN2
CELTICS (Champagnie)
• Saturday vs. Heat, 3 p.m., NBATV
• Sunday vs. Wizards, 7:30 p.m., NBATV
• Wednesday vs. Lakers, 10 p.m., ESPN2
• July 14 vs. Knicks, 7 p.m., ESPN2
Champagnie, Cam Johnson, Khem Birch, and Steven Adams were the four former Panthers to play in an NBA game last season. There have been 23 former Panthers to play at least one season in the NBA, and seven joined an NBA team between 2010 and 2022. Sibande would be the second former Pitt player to have finished his college career under Jeff Capel to make it to the NBA via Pitt, joining Champagnie, though his signing to the Mavs' Summer League team perhaps came as the most unlikely among his teammates in this past draft.
Also eligible to sign and play in the Summer League are Jamarius Burton, Nelly Cummings, and Greg Elliott, but neither are currently rostered on the eve of the Summer League opener. (Cummings and Elliott are currently on the roster for the Zoo Crew team in The Basketball Tournament beginning July 19, though Sibande and Gueye are also scheduled to play on that alumni team.)
Burton worked out for the Lakers, Grizzlies, Hawks, and Celtics, Cummings with the Hornets, and Elliott with the Pistons in the pre-draft process. Sibande did not work out for any team on an individual basis, but he did enter the pre-draft process in 2019 while he was at Miami of Ohio and gained some exposure to scouts.
Sibande's road has been a hard one traveled. He was set to be a focal point of a hopeful Panthers team in the 2021-'22 season, only for a torn ACL sustained in an exhibition game to force him to miss the entirety of the regular season. Sibande responded with a career season highlighted by flashy dunks and an infectious energy off the bench, and no play he made was larger than his defense on Caleb Love in the final seconds of Pitt's win at North Carolina to begin February.
Toney scored 8.4 points per game and shot 55% from the field in 28 games for the G League's Lakeland Magic after going undrafted. Gueye scored 8.6 points and grabbed 5.1 rebounds per game in 11 games. Champagnie played in five games as an end-of-the-bench piece for the Celtics and soaked up some endgame minutes in Boston's wins over the Heat in Game 4 and Game 5 of the Eastern Conference Finals, and he appeared in the previous two series against the Hawks and 76ers.
