Duke basketball fans relish unraveled ‘Carolina Family’

Ty Lawson is not in the Duke basketball family but can attend Thanksgiving.

Nobody seems to know what truly has Ty Lawson in such a huff. Maybe the fake classes when he attended North Carolina? The 14-19 record by his alma mater last season? All those heartbreaking losses to the Duke basketball program across the past decade? Tyler Hansbrough crying over a love tap from Gerald Henderson? That illegitimate banner from 1924?

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The better guess, judging from the contents of Lawson’s written rant, is he is upset at some shade that head coach Roy Williams may have cast on his name when speaking to NBA folks. Whatever the reason for bringing the public in on the beef, as soon as word reached Twitter of the former Tar Heel point guard’s Monday Instagram Stories, Dukies scurried by the masses to their pantries and fetched the popcorn:

“Who talks s— about someone who won them a championship……your weird…I got messages from 10 NBA gm’s that said it came out your mouth. That’s why I don’t f— with Carolina or support anything y’all do…It’s a blessing that I don’t open my mouth about s—…: they ask me why I don’t show love to North Carolina…Roy Williams knows why.”

Hmm…interesting, indeed. But who can now blame Blue Devil junkies for feasting on Lawson’s five-star entertainment? After all, for years, every time a Duke basketball player has transferred or insinuated any type of displeasure with Mike Krzyzewski, UNC fans have been quick to attack the validity of “The Brotherhood” in Durham while boasting about some supposedly unbreakable “Carolina Family” bonds.

The hypothetical Duke basketball equivalent of Ty Lawson’s message

Karma’s a stinker. Not only did Lawson instantly unravel those family bonds with such a vicious reprimand of his college program and everything it stands for, but he was also arguably the most important piece to the Heels’ 2009 NCAA Championship run. In other words, it would be like Bobby Hurley, Jason Williams, Jon Scheyer, or Tyus Jones flinging F-bomb insults at Coach K’s character while bashing the Duke fanbase. Not gonna happen.

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Anyway, here’s how Sporting News writer Jacob Hancock broke down Lawson’s 2009 NBA Draft stock:

“There’s no evidence as to what Williams might have said to NBA GMs about Lawson, or even when he said it. Lawson, standing at a diminutive 5-11, fell to the Timberwolves with the 18th overall pick in the 2009 NBA Draft and was promptly traded to the Nuggets. Most assumed his slide was because of his size and often-injured ankle (he missed the ACC Tournament that year and had to play with a boot during the Tar Heels’ championship run that March).”

So should Dukies go ahead now and stock up on the Orville Redenbacher? Maybe, for Lawson could next try to sell his 2009 game-worn jerseys on Instagram — assuming he hasn’t already burned them.

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