Ball Durham
Fansided

New Orleans Pelicans are fully embracing the Duke Brotherhood

ByKevin Connelly|
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 06: Zion Williamson (C) #1 of the New Orleans Pelicans looks on from the bench as his team takes on the Washington Wizards during the 2019 NBA Summer League at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 6, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)
LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - JULY 06: Zion Williamson (C) #1 of the New Orleans Pelicans looks on from the bench as his team takes on the Washington Wizards during the 2019 NBA Summer League at the Thomas & Mack Center on July 6, 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images)

The New Orleans Pelicans have built a team around former Duke Basketball players and the team is embracing the Blue Devils’ ‘Brotherhood’ motto.

Call them ‘Duke South’, the ‘Bayou Blue Devils’, or whatever you wish, but the slew of former Blue Devils that have joined the New Orleans Pelicans is something special.

While it remains to be seen how the group will mesh together on the court, the New Orleans Pelicans have definitely embraced ‘The Brotherhood’.

More from Ball Durham

The group is comprised of Zion Williamson, J.J. Redick, Brandon Ingram, Jahlil Okafor, and Frank Jackson to go along with General Manager Trajan Langdon.

While the five have yet to take the court, in all of their remarks in press conferences and other various statements to the press they all seem thrilled about the possibility of being on the court at one time.

Yes, the five players all love and embrace the Duke Brotherhood, what is even more impressive and important about the group coming together, is that the New Orleans Pelicans are even embracing ‘The Brotherhood’ through some of its social media posts.

In fact, New Orleans’ President of Basketball Operations, David Griffin, said that a major factor in Redick signing with the Pelicans was his relationship with Langdon.

Trajan Langdon and J.J. Redick never played at Duke with each other, as neither did any of the members of the ‘New Orleans Blue Devils’.

Langdon was in Durham from 1994-1999, Redick from 2002-2006, Okafor in 2015, Ingram in 2016, Jackson in 2017, and Williamson in 2019.

There’s a high percentage that we will see an all Duke lineup in the Bayou at some point this season, but with a young Pelicans team that has high expectations in a loaded Western Conference, pressure will be on the team, but that’s nothing new for the former Blue Devils.

No dates have been set for the 2019-20 NBA season to fans must continue to wait in anticipation for their first glimpse of the Blue Devils on the floor in New Orleans, but get your popcorn and jumbo ready, because it’s going to be fun.

Home/Blue Devils in the NBA