An Iowa college alum made it all the way to the NBA Finals in 2025. Will it happen again this year?
The NBA playoffs began on April 14, as lower-ranked teams battled for the final two spots in the NBA Play-In Tournament. The Play-In concluded on April 17, with the Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns as the last two teams to represent the Eastern and Western conferences, respectively.
Here is what to know about the 2026 NBA Playoffs and what players from Iowa colleges will be playing.
When are the 2026 NBA Playoffs?
The first round of the playoffs began April 18 with a slate of four games. Games will be broadcast across ABC, NBC, ESPN, Peacock and Prime Video throughout the first round.
Here are other key dates for the playoffs, according to projections from NBA.com:
NBA playoff bracket: First-round series
Series records are as of the morning of Monday, April 20.
Eastern Conference
Western Conference
What NBA players from Iowa colleges will be in the 2026 NBA Playoffs?
Boston Celtics center Luka Garza and Portland Trail Blazers small forward Kris Murray are the only players from the University of Iowa who will be active during this year’s playoffs.
Murray, making his postseason debut with Portland after being selected in the first round of the 2023 draft, averaged 5.8 points, 3.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists while shooting 46.7% from the field over 57 games during the 2025–26 season. The 25-year-old logged two minutes in Game 1 of the Trail Blazers’ first-round series against the San Antonio Spurs on Sunday, April 19, recording no statistics in Portland’s 111–98 loss.
Garza, an All-American center and former Associated Press national player of the year at Iowa, averaged a career high 8.1 points, 4.1 rebounds, 1 assist and 16 minutes per game for the Celtics this year. He played 14 minutes in the Celtics Game 1 win against the Philadelphia 76ers on Sunday, recording 7 points, 2 rebounds and 1 assist.
Fellow Hawkeye alum Payton Sandfort is on a two-way contract with the Western Conference’s top-seeded Oklahoma City Thunder. Under current NBA rules, two-way players aren’t postseason-eligible, and Sandfort wasn’t listed on the Thunder’s depth chart for its Game 1 win over the Suns.
Are any players from Iowa State or Northern Iowa in the 2026 NBA Playoffs?
The Cyclones and Panthers have no former players active for the postseason after having four last year (3 Iowa State, 1 UNI).
Like Sandfort, Iowa State rookies Keshon Gilbert and Curtis Jones are under two-way contracts with the Atlanta Hawks and Denver Nuggets, respectively. Jones appeared in 10 games for Denver this season, with Gilbert appearing in four games between the Washington Wizards and the Hawks.
One Iowa native in the NBA Playoffs
Iowa native Harrison Barnes will be playing in his sixth postseason as a member of the Spurs.
Barnes, one of the state’s most prolific prep stars at Ames High School in the late 2000s, completed his 14th NBA regular season in 2025–26. He appeared in 77 games, averaging 9.9 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.9 assists while shooting 45.6% from the field.
USA TODAY SPORTS trending editor Ellen J. Horrow contributed to this report.
Cooper Worth is a service/trending reporter for the Des Moines Register. Reach him at cworth@gannett.com or follow him on X @CooperAWorth.
This article originally appeared on Des Moines Register: Here are the Iowa college alums, natives playing in the NBA Playoffs
Reporting by Cooper Worth, Des Moines Register / Des Moines Register
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