Ranking all 25 Duke basketball players in the NBA this season
By Matt Giles
69. Scouting Report. Pick Analysis. Forward. 4th NBA season. Brandon Ingram. 4. player
- Games played this season: 47
- Games started this season: 47
- Minutes per game: 34.1
- Points per game: 24.9
- Rebounds per game: 6.4
- Assists per game: 4.2
- Blocks per game: 0.7
- Steals per game: 1.0
- FG percentage: 47.3
- 3-point percentage: 40.0
- FT percentage: 86.2
On Sunday, though the pair of first-timers combined for only eight points, Brandon Ingram and the next guy on this list tied the record for the most former Duke basketball players to appear in the same All-Star Game (Kyrie Irving and Luol Deng did so in 2013, but Christian Laettner and Grant Hill were the first in 1997).
Ingram has experienced a meteoric rise since being a so-called “bust” as a rookie three years ago (when he averaged only 9.4 points after being the No. 2 overall pick at the 2016 NBA Draft). The 6-foot-7, 190-pound 22-year-old from Kinston, N.C., has scored 40 or more in a game twice this season (including a career-high 49), 30 or more on 10 occasions, and fewer than 10 only once.
So long as Ingram can accept fewer shots now that he coexists with the nearly certain-to-be future All-Star Dukie still to come on this ranking, the future for the New Orleans Pelicans looks full of promise, indeed.