NBA Connections answers for October 11, 2026 (#3)
Spoilers below. The four groups of NBA Connections #3 (October 11, 2026), easiest first: NBA debut in the 1940s; Went to college at North Carolina; Went to college at LSU; Played for the Warriors and the Kings.
The four groups
NBA debut in the 1940s Yellow (easiest)
- Harry Gallatin · first NBA season 1948–49
- Vern Mikkelsen · first NBA season 1949–50
- Bob Davies · first NBA season 1948–49
- Dick McGuire · first NBA season 1949–50
Went to college at North Carolina Green
- Michael Jordan · North Carolina
- James Worthy · North Carolina
- Brad Daugherty · North Carolina
- Walter Davis · North Carolina
Went to college at LSU Blue
- Mahmoud Abdul-Rauf · LSU
- Shaquille O'Neal · LSU
- Ben Simmons · LSU
- Bob Pettit · LSU
- Mitch Richmond · Warriors 1988–89 to 1990–91; Kings 1991–92 to 1997–98
- Donte DiVincenzo · Warriors 2022–23; Kings 2021–22
- DeMarcus Cousins · Warriors 2018–19; Kings 2010–11 to 2016–17
- Jerry Lucas · Warriors 1969–70 to 1970–71; Kings 1963–64 to 1969–70
How the groups are checked
Each group is a fact from the players' English Wikipedia infoboxes (CC BY-SA 4.0): the franchises he played at least one NBA season for, his listed positions, his college, his draft line, his All-Star selections and the Hall of Fame. Before the puzzle was published, all 64 player-and-group pairs were checked: every player fits his own group and, by the data, none of the other three.