Does an active player own the title of best Duke basketball pro in history?
Counting transfers in or out of Durham along the way, 86 former Duke basketball stars have seen action in at least one NBA (or ABA) game ever since the league’s inception in 1946. Of those, 27 have played this season. Plus, 16 are not yet 25 years old, and 10 would have still been in college this past school year had they not left early.
The above numbers obviously speak to the ongoing Blue Devil invasion of the NBA. At the same time, though, the youth movement adds yet another complexity in compiling this ranking. For instance, try comparing the 24-game career of Zion Williamson, who averaged 22.5 points for the 2019-20 New Orleans Pelicans, to the five-year ABA career of Bob “The Gun” Verga, who peaked at 27.5 points per game for the 1969-70 Carolina Cougars.
Well, in Verga’s case, since several studies suggest ABA competition was roughly 20 percent easier than in the NBA at the time, Duke’s two-time All-American didn’t quite make the cut here. As for whether this top 10 omits Williamson, whose data is extremely limited but whose goody bag contains never-before-seen treats, we’ll add suspense by not giving away that answer just yet.
Now, without further ado, let’s begin at No. 10, counting down to No. 1 (honorable mentions come last), factoring in each NBA Blue Devil’s stats, team success, playoff prowess, longevity, durability, popularity, and when applicable, future potential…
All-time top 10 Duke basketball pro: No. 10 Brandon Ingram
At this time last year, Brandon Ingram wouldn’t have been on a list such as this. Because prior to his 2019-20 campaign — his first with the New Orleans Pelicans after spending his first three seasons with the Los Angeles Lakers — the 6-foot-7 forward hadn’t yet refined his shot enough to reach the All-Star status that his one-and-done Duke basketball career seemed to promise.
This past season, leading to his first All-Star selection, Ingram hit 2.4 three’s per game while shooting 39.1 percent, a far cry from the year before when he averaged only 0.6 at a 33.0 percent clip. Plus, despite similar minutes to his final two seasons in Los Angeles, Ingram bumped up his attempts from the charity stripe while increasing his accuracy there from the 60s to 85.1 percent.
Naturally, the former No. 2 overall pick’s scoring average jumped as well, from 18.3 points in his third year as a pro to 23.8 in New Orleans. Needless to say, the 22-year-old slithering scorer’s stock should continue to rise, no matter where the restricted free agent spends next season.
All-time top 10 Duke basketball pro: No. 9 JJ Redick
Considering the Pelicans boast five Blue Devils, it’s not too much of a coincidence that No. 9 here is a teammate to No. 10 Brandon Ingram. Though a close call, the reasons for JJ Redick getting the nod are clear: longevity (14-4 advantage in NBA seasons played), team success (13-0 advantage in playoff appearances), and career 3-point percentage (Redick over Ingram, 44.8 to 36.0).
Redick’s birth certificate says he’s 36, but his recent trajectory aligns with guys who are in their prime. After a prolific Duke basketball career, the 6-foot-4 guard struggled out of the gates in the NBA. He was a single-digit scorer in each of his first four years. Compare that to his combined 16.4 points per game the past four seasons, including his career-high 18.1 average in 2018-19.
Yes, the birth certificate would point to an end in sight for Redick’s days as a pro. However, his dietary plan and workout regimen, in combination with what seems to be a reinvigorated spirit as his popularity has again taken off of late, hints that the former Blue Devil legend will add plenty more to his Duke-record 1,884 made NBA 3-pointers (the 14th most in league history).
All-time top 10 Duke basketball pro: No. 8 Jack Marin
Opposite of JJ Redick, the best seasons of Jack Marin came before his 30th birthday. And like so many others who don’t age quite as remarkably as Redick, Marin was out of the NBA by the age of 33. Yet in his heyday, which primarily consisted of the first half of the 1970s, Marin was a bigger scoring threat than Redick has been in any season.
The Duke basketball legend, who helped the Blue Devils to two Final Four trips before going No. 5 overall at the 1966 NBA Draft to the Baltimore Bullets, averaged 19.7 points in just his fourth season in the league. And Marin did so for a top contender at the time while sharing touches with the likes of NBA greats Wes Unseld, Earl Monroe, Gus Johnson, and Kevin Loughery.
Two seasons later (1971-72), with Monroe off to the New York Knicks, Marin averaged 22.3 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.2 assists while shooting 47.8 percent from the field and an uber-impressive 89.4 percent from the foul line. In all, his NBA career spanned 11 years, with the 6-foot-6 forward playing 70 or more games in every season except his last.
All-time top 10 Duke basketball pro: No. 7 Luol Deng
Luol Deng is the only Duke basketball product in history to end an NBA career with at least 13,000 points, 5,000 rebounds, 2,000 assists, and 650 made 3-pointers. That collection of numbers shows that the two-time All-Star forward (2012 and 2013) was one of the most versatile and durable of professional Blue Devils.
Following his one-and-done Final Four campaign in Durham (alongside JJ Redick), the native of South Sudan (and then Great Britain) went No. 7 overall at the 2004 NBA Draft and proceeded to last 15 seasons in the league. Before his final two years as a pro, Deng had never averaged less than 11 points and five boards per game.
His first 9.5 seasons came in Chicago. And when combining team results with individual stats, it’s safe to say Deng’s peak was in 2010-11, when he averaged 17.4 points while starring with the best-ever version of Derrick Rose and the next Blue Devil on this list, Carlos Boozer. After a 62-20 regular season, those Bulls lost in the Eastern Conference Finals to LeBron James’ Miami Heat.
All-time top 10 Duke basketball pro: No. 6 Carlos Boozer
Like Deng, Carlos Boozer was in his prime with the Chicago Bulls. Unlike Deng, that 2010-11 season was Boozer’s first in the Windy City. Prior to his arrival, between two seasons with the Cleveland Cavaliers before carving out a productive stint with the Utah Jazz, the Alaskan had spent eight years making fools out of all those who let him slip to No. 35 overall at the 2002 NBA Draft.
A three-year Duke basketball star and 2001 national champ — and the namesake of this writer’s now-late beagle, which may or may not have earned him a few bonus points on this list — Boozer kicked off his consistently productive 13-year NBA career by averaging 10.0 points as a rookie. The 2007 and 2008 All-Star never fell below that mark the rest of the way.
As a result, the nimble, powerful, smooth forward/center sits No. 3 among all Blue Devils with his 13,976 points as a pro. Also, Boozer ranks No. 2 on the Duke list with 8,192 rebounds in the NBA. And that’s nearly 2,000 more than No. 3 on the list. But it’s nearly 1,000 less than the total from the 10-inch hands of Elton Brand, who just so happens to sit one notch higher here as well…
All-time top 10 Duke basketball pro: No. 5 Elton Brand
Elton Brand, now the general manager of the Philadelphia 76ers, provided Duke basketball with one of the most uniquely gifted specimens in program history, to the tune of winning the 1999 Naismith and then coming up one heartbreaking minute shy of a national title (no need to go there here). Of course, those gifts spilled over — and then some — into his NBA career.
By averaging 20.1 points and 10.0 rebounds across 81 appearances in his first season, Brand proved a worthy former No. 1 draft pick. After picking up his NBA Rookie of the Year honor and then essentially matching those numbers in his second year with the Chicago Bulls, he ended up with the Los Angeles Clippers for sevens seasons, including his two All-Star campaigns.
Mr. Wingspan then played for three more franchises across the remainder of his 17-year NBA career. Among all NBA Blue Devils, he ranks No. 2 in points with 16,827 and No. 1 in rebounds with 9,040. As for blocks, Brand’s 1,828 about double the amounts of No. 2 and No. 3 (those two guys are honorable mentions here at the end).
All-time top 10 Duke basketball pro: No. 4 Jeff Mullins
Jeff Mullins, whose No. 44 jersey ended up in Cameron Indoor Stadium’s rafters after his two Final Four appearances, went No. 5 overall at the 1964 NBA Draft to the St. Louis Hawks. But the 6-foot-4 shooting guard would go on to average less than six points per game in each of his two years there.
However, Mullins quickly ratcheted up his production with the San Francisco Warriors, who became the Golden State Warriors midway through his 10-season stay there. In fact, in his first year in California, he averaged 12.9 points and 5.0 rebounds for a team that snagged the Western Conference crown. After that season, he averaged 16-23 points across his next seven campaigns.
Though Mullins (who eventually became a successful 11-year head coach for UNC Charlotte) then contributed only 8.2 points per game in 1974-75 while playing alongside NBA legend Rick Barry, his championship ring from that season remained the only one for a former Blue Devil until Danny Ferry earned his with the San Antonio Spurs in 2003.
All-time top 10 Duke basketball pro: No. 3 Jayson Tatum
There are few hotter names right now than Jayson Tatum. At age 22, in just his third year as a pro, the 2016-17 Duke basketball one-and-done is coming off a first-round playoff sweep of the Philadelphia 76ers, in which the St. Louis native averaged 27.0 points and 9.8 boards for the Boston Celtics while knocking down 14 of his 31 attempts from deep (45.2 percent).
This season, the versatile-forward franchise player has averaged 23.4 points, 7.0 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.4 steals, and almost three 3-pointers per game. Keep in mind, too, that he’s done so for one of the top teams. It’s also worth noting that Tatum has a wealth of playoff experience for a guy his age, having already challenged LeBron James in a seven-game series as a rookie.
Should Tatum’s playoff prowess continue through September and result in a championship — assuming the former No. 3 overall draft pick continues to embrace the No. 1 role on the squad the rest of the way — he’d quite possibly jump ahead of the next Blue Devil on this list. For now, though, he’s still lacking what his former Celtics teammate has: a ring.
All-time top 10 Duke basketball pro: No. 2 Kyrie Irving
First, here are the negatives: 1) Kyrie Irving is prone to injuries and drama, having missed 10 or more games for various reasons in each of his 10 NBA seasons, and 2) he only played 11 games as a Duke basketball player, arguably derailing the Blue Devils’ run in 2011 by returning from a toe injury in time for the NCAA Tournament but without time for the team to reconfigure key roles.
However, the 6-foot-2, 195-pound point guard stands out on pretty much every boxscore he’s ever been a part of, never averaging less than 18 points as a pro. After going No. 1 overall to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Irving took home Rookie of the Year honors. And before his injury-riddled 2019-20 campaign, in which he appeared only 20 times, he’d been an All-Star six years straight.
Add in, of course, the fact that he hit the last-minute 3-pointer in Game 7 against the Golden State Warriors in 2016 to give the Cavaliers their first title. And consider that the mere 28-year-old, despite all the injuries and whatnot, already ranks in the top 10 among all past and present NBA Blue Devils in total points (11,842), assists (3,012), steals (699), 3-point makes (1,119), and more.
All-time top 10 Duke basketball pro: No. 1 Grant Hill
Seven years removed from his 19-year pro career that lasted beyond his 40th birthday — playing for four franchises in all — the 17,137 points in the league from Grant Hill still looks safe for awhile atop the ranking of all NBA Blue Devils. After all, the No. 1 active player on the list is Kyrie Irving with still 5,295 fewer points than the two-time Duke basketball national champion.
Perhaps even more impressive, Hill also ranks No. 1 among NBA Blue Devils in assists with 4,252, which is 1,229 more than the total of No. 2 Jeff Mullins and 1,240 more than the No. 1 active amount of Irving. Oops, forgot to mention that Duke’s 1993 NABC Defensive Player of the Year also sits No. 1 among his Brotherhood NBA brethren with 1,248 steals.
Wait, there’s even more worth pointing out in order to understand Hill’s all-around greatness. He’s No. 4 among NBA Blue Devils with 6,169 rebounds, No. 5 with 576 blocks, No. 2 with 1,026 games played, No. 2 with 34,776 minutes played, and No. 2 in both made and attempted free throws (the wizardly smooth crossover slasher ended up 4,228-for-5,498 all time from the line).
He managed all that despite playing in a total of only 37 games from age 28 to 31 — aka the peak years for most all-time greats — while constantly trying to recover from ankle surgeries. Had Hill not missed so much time during his prime, which resulted in the disappearance of his extreme-level athleticism, he might’ve landed on the shortlist of the greatest to ever play the game.
Duke basketball’s all-time NBA players: HONORABLE MENTIONS
Bob Verga – As alluded to earlier, Verga played only one season in the NBA after lighting up scoreboards in the ABA. And he averaged only 5.0 points across 21 games that year. Just not quite enough here.
Mike Gminski – G-Man was about as close as any honorable mention to making the top 10, but some recency bias perhaps kept him out. Nevertheless, the 6-foot-11 center was a double-double machine during his prime in the 1980s with the New Jersey Nets and then Philadelphia 76ers.
Christian Laettner – While Laettner is undoubtedly the greatest Blue Devil of all time — plus, his pro career draws unfair jokes from anti-Dukies seeing that he lasted 13 seasons and even made the 1997 All-Star Game — his early Minnesota Timberwolves teams lost a ton of games. Plus, his individual numbers dropped off significantly in his early 30s.
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Shane Battier – In terms of NBA Finals heroics to help LeBron James win a title, Battier ranks right up there with Kyrie Irving; without his oh-so-clutch 6-for-8 clip from beyond the arc in Game 7 against the San Antonio Spurs, the Miami Heat might not have been the 2013 champs. That said, the Duke legend averaged double-figure points in only three of his 13 pro seasons.
Corey Maggette – Maggette’s 14 seasons in the league did amount to more points than all but four Blue Devils in history. Yet most of the first-ever Duke basketball one-and-done’s peak seasons came on dismal Los Angeles Clippers teams in the early 2000s. And as a career 32.4 percent 3-point shooter, he typically required a bunch of shots to reach his high scoring totals.
Mike Dunleavy – Dunleavy’s days as a professional spanned 15 seasons and six franchises. Though the former No. 3 overall pick (2002) was a consistent 10-20 point scorer for an 11-year span, he was never an All-Star, and his best years coincided with below-.500 Indiana Pacers squads.
Zion Williamson – No offense to Zion, but averaging 22.5 points and 6.3 boards across 24 NBA games — albeit incredible for a guy who only recently turned 20 — is just insufficient data for this ranking of Blue Devils’ NBA careers. On the other hand, be sure to check back for updates at this time next year. There’s no limit to how high Williamson may jump.
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