Camila Sosa
Duke University, home of the Duke Blue Devils, is in the March Madness’ Final Four for the first time since 2015 (when they were crowned NCAA champions) and is also going through one of the most important periods in their history as it is the last season of their legendary coach Mike Krzyzewski, better known as Coach K. During his 42 years at Duke’s academy, many names have gone through his tactics and have had remarkable results as professionals in the NBA.
In this ranking, we present the five players who are currently among NBA’s finest and who were part of the Duke Blue Devils at the beginning of their careers.
Brandon Ingram – New Orleans Pelicans
The current Star of the New Orleans Pelicans only wore the Blue Devils uniform for one season, but it was a very successful one, as he was named Rookie of the Year in the ACC conference and received an honorable mention in the All-American Team. He also scored the second-highest number of games with 20 points for a freshman in the team’s history, finishing his college career with averages of 17.3 points, 6.8 rebounds and 2 assists.
Ingram would eventually be selected by the Los Angeles Lakers as the second overall pick of the 2016 draft and is currently playing for the Pelicans, with whom he has won the Most Improved Player (MIP) award of the 2019-2020 campaign as well as an All-Star Game selection. He currently averages 22.9 points, 5.7 rebounds, 5.5 assists with ERAS of 46.4% and 33% on three-pointers.
Kyrie Irving – Brooklyn Nets
Even though he is currently the most successful player on this list, Irving did not have a college-level prominence as he does today in the NBA. He only participated in 11 games with Duke due to several injuries he suffered during his only NCAA campaign; however, this was one of the most successful years in the regular season for the team, as he finished with a 32-5 record and ended up being first seed in his region. Unfortunately, they would be eliminated in the Sweet 16 by the Arizona Wildcats.
Selected in the 2011 draft and selected first overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers, Kyrie would go on to achieve a range of accomplishments: seven selections to the All-Star Game, three All-NBA Teams, Rookie of the Year in the 2011-2012 season and, of course, NBA champion in the 2015-2016 season. He is currently playing for the Nets, averaging 27 points, 4.3 rebounds, 5.7 assists and 1.3 steals in the current season.
RJ Barrett – New York Knicks
Performing in the company of Zion Williamson and Cam Reddish, Barrett was the team’s top scorer and the man who performed the significant shots. In this way, he finished as the second-best scorer in a season within the university with 860 points in the 2018-2019 season. With averages of 22.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists, the forward ended up being selected by the New York Knicks in the third place overall of 2019’s draft.
This season has been the total promotion for the Canadian, since he’s been averaging 20 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists for the Knicks, occupying the position of the main scorer of the squad led by Tom Thibodeau.
Jayson Tatum – Boston Celtics
Tatum’s experience in Duke University is intriguing, because he did not lead the team in any statistics and was not the most sought-after prospect due to the fact that he belongs to the same group as Harry Giles, Luke Kennard, Grayson Allen and Franck Jackson. Despite all of this, Jayson was a more than excellent player for the Blue Devils, with averages of 16.8 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.1 assists and excellent field percentages in his only campaign in college basketball.
Tatum has definitely been a standout performer in the NBA: since being by the Boston Celtics as the third pick in 2017’s draft, he has been selected three times to the All-Star Game and an All-NBA Team in his short five-year career. With 27.1 points, 8.1 rebounds and 4.3 assists on a Celtics team that is battling for first place in the Eastern Conference, he is having his greatest season of his career.Zion Williamson – New rleans Pelicans.
Unlike his current moment in the NBA, at Duke Williamson was everything he hasn’t been yet professionally: a generational talent who gave his best for his team on the court. During 33 games with the Blue Devils, he averaged 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks with a P/E ratio of 40.8: the highest in the last decade of the NCAA. He helped the team reach a 32-6 record on the campaign trail, obtained the Freshman of the Year award and was named College Player of the Year as well.
Passing as a media phenomenon in college basketball, he was selected by the New Orleans Pelicans with the first overall pick of the 2019 prospect draft. So far, he has only played one full season in his career in the three years since his debut, where he averaged 27 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.7 assists in 61 games during the 2020-2021 campaign.
He is currently recovering from surgery on his left foot that has kept him out for the entire current season.
