NBA Connections answers for October 16, 2026 (#8)
Spoilers below. The four groups of NBA Connections #8 (October 16, 2026), easiest first: Played for the Boston Celtics; Played for the Utah Jazz; Listed as a guard; NBA debut in the 1980s.
The four groups
- Jermaine O'Neal · Celtics: 2010–11 to 2011–12
- Tom Heinsohn · Celtics: 1956–57 to 1964–65
- Kevin Garnett · Celtics: 2007–08 to 2012–13
- Tristan Thompson · Celtics: 2020–21
- Bernard King · Jazz: 1979–80
- Paul Millsap · Jazz: 2006–07 to 2012–13
- Adrian Dantley · Jazz: 1979–80 to 1985–86
- Richard Jefferson · Jazz: 2013–14
Listed as a guard Blue
- Allen Iverson · listed as SG/PG
- Brandon Roy · listed as SG
- Jeremy Lin · listed as PG/SG
- Calvin Murphy · listed as PG
NBA debut in the 1980s Purple (trickiest)
- Anthony Mason · first NBA season 1989–90
- Ralph Sampson · first NBA season 1983–84
- Dennis Rodman · first NBA season 1986–87
- David Robinson · first NBA season 1989–90
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.