Which Duke basketball product in New Orleans is primed for the best season?
The New Orleans Pelicans are set to begin their preseason action at 7 p.m. Monday on the road against the Miami Heat (available on NBA TV, Fox Sports New Orleans, and Fox Sports Sun). So the timing now seems right to examine all the past Duke basketball players who are still on the roster in the Big Easy.
Unfortunately, there are no longer enough Bayou Blue Devils in town to form a complete lineup. Rather, 2014-15 national champ Jahlil Okafor is now with the Detroit Pistons, alongside another former big in Durham, Mason Plumlee. Meanwhile, point guard Frank Jackson, a 2016-17 Duke one-and-done, is in Oklahoma City hoping to earn a sizeable role with the Thunder.
That leaves Zion Williamson, JJ Redick, and Brandon Ingram as the only Blue Devils who remain Pelicans for the 2020-21 campaign. Of course, of the quintet of Dukies in Louisiana last go-round — New Orleans finished 30-42, fired coach Alvin Gentry, and then hired Stan Van Gundy — there is no doubt those three constituted the supreme trio while Okafor and Jackson warmed the bench.
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Now, let’s take individual looks at the season outlooks for Williamson, Redick, and Ingram. And let’s go ahead and rank them while we’re at it. We’ll do so in order of their projected overall contributions, from least to most, beginning with the savvy sharpshooter of the bunch…