Ranking all 25 Duke basketball players in the NBA this season

• Games played this season: 50
• Games started this season: 35
• Minutes per game: 27.2
• Points per game: 15.7
• Rebounds per game: 2.6
• Assists per game: 2.0
• Blocks per game: 0.2
• Steals per game: 0.4
• FG percentage: 45.4
• 3-point percentage: 45.8
• FT percentage: 90.0

Speaking of sharpshooters who improved over time, there’s no better example than J.J. Redick, Duke’s all-time scoring leader (2,769 points), who last season became the oldest NBA player in history to set a new season-high scoring average (18.1). This season, at age 35, though that stat has dropped a touch, Redick is both a veteran leader and clutch scorer in his first year with the New Orleans Pelicans; plus, his 3-point percentage this season ranks second in the league.

At stake is a streak of being in the playoffs all 13 seasons of his career. Currently, the Pelicans are 23-32 and 5.5 games out of eighth place. But if the 6-foot-3, 200-pound Roanoke, Va., native returns from the All-Star break to continue his recent hot stretch of 20-point games — three in a row and 13 all season — the playoffs are certainly a legit possibility.

Of course, two more former Blue Devils coming up here on this list should also have plenty to say about the team’s success across the final third of the regular season.