Former Stanford men’s basketball star Dwight Powell is playing in the NBA Finals for the first time of his career as a member of the Dallas Mavericks going up against the Boston Celtics. The 10 year NBA veteran has been with the Mavericks ever since he was traded to them from the Celtics back when he was a rookie in December of 2014. What of course makes this ironic is the fact that the team Powell is going up against in the NBA Finals is the team that traded him to the Mavericks. There is an alternate universe out there where Powell doesn’t get traded and plays in his second NBA Finals as a member of the Celtics going up against the Mavericks. Don’t you just love possible worlds?
READ: Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy-Possible Worlds
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On top of that, Powell's head coach is Cal legend Jason Kidd. If the Mavericks win the NBA Finals, it will be a win for both the Golden Bears and the Cardinal. Of course, the Celtics have a former Cal star of their own, but I'll get to that later.
During his entire career in Dallas, Dwight Powell has been a role player/glue guy. In 645 career games played with the Mavericks, Powell has started 251 games for an average of 7.2 points and 4.5 rebounds in 18.5 minutes per game. He has shot a really solid 60.2% from the field and a respectable 73.9% from the foul line.
While he has seen his minutes decrease this season (13.1 minutes per game in the regular season; 3.1 minutes per game in the playoffs), Powell has been an important part of the Mavericks organization and played a real role in helping them form a championship contending team. A big man like Powell that can be counted on to make smart plays, rebound, and hustle is something that every team needs.
Going back to his days at Stanford, Powell committed to the Cardinal as a 5-star power forward as part of their 2010 class. He was part of the same class that also signed 3-star forward Josh Huestis, 4-star guard Anthony Brown, 3-star forward John Gage, 3-star guard Aaron Bright, and 3-star forward Stefan Nastic. A solid class as Huestis and Brown also made it to the NBA while Bright and Nastic had standout college careers despite not making it to the NBA (Nastic played in NBA Summer League). Powell was the headliner of the class and in the end, he’s the one who went on to have the best NBA career. A win for the star rating system!
As a freshman, Powell played a lot for Stanford. He started in 24 of their 31 games while averaging 8.1 points and 5.2 rebounds in 24.4 minutes per game. As a sophomore, he helped Stanford win the 2012 NIT, though he had a dip in his production: 5.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in 17.5 minutes per game.
As a junior, Powell had his best statistical season on The Farm, averaging 14.9 points and 8.4 rebounds while starting every game of the season for 30+ minutes per game. As a senior, he helped guide the Cardinal to the Sweet Sixteen of the 2014 NCAA tournament, averaging 14.0 points and 6.9 rebounds while once again starting every game for 30+ minutes per game. He was named Pac-12 Scholar Athlete of the Year for men’s basketball, completing his degree in Science, Technology, & Society.
Powell averaged 10.8 points and 6.3 rebounds per game for his Stanford career on 46.4% shooting from the field and 72.2% shooting from the foul line. He was always a very disciplined player that made the right play, took good shots, rebounded, and just all around knew how to play good team basketball. At 6’10”, 240 pounds, he could stretch the floor a bit and was a guy who was difficult for opposing teams to stop. That’s why he got drafted in the NBA and is now in his 10th season in the league.
While he isn’t getting as many minutes as he has in the past, it still has to be satisfying for Powell to make the NBA Finals with a team that has stuck with him for almost a full decade. The Mavericks clearly value what he has brought to their organization and it would certainly be cool for him to cap off his hard work with an NBA championship ring before he heads to Paris to represent Canada in the Olympics.
P.S. I would be remiss if I did not also mention that I covered Boston Celtics star Jaylen Brown during his freshman year at Cal for Rivals’ GoldenBearReport.com. He's playing in his second NBA Finals and is in search of his first NBA championship. It’s been a lot of fun for me to watch the growth of his basketball career from his days at Cal all the way until now. The thing I remember the most about him is how hard he worked. He was always getting up extra shots in between water breaks and took his craft really seriously. He was constantly looking for ways to improve, which is why he's been able to take his game to another stratosphere.
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