Duke basketball product sees dramatic demotion in Los Angeles

A former Duke basketball sharpshooter has gone from starter to mop-up duty.

No matter how you look at it, at least Duke basketball alum Luke Kennard (2015-17) can say he’s making loads of easy money these days.

A few weeks before the NBA season began — following his trade to the Los Angeles Clippers from the Detroit Pistons, who had drafted him No. 12 overall in 2017 — the 6-foot-5, 205-pound shooting guard inked a four-year extension worth $64 million.

And pretty much throughout the 2020-21 regular season, Kennard was somewhat earning his keep as a member of the regular rotation. In fact, he drew 17 starting nods, all relatively spread out across his 63 total appearances.

Sure, it was rather disappointing to see the Ohio native manage only 8.3 points per game, which marked his lowest average since his rookie campaign and was roughly half of the amount he put up last season in Detroit. Plus, his average playing time finished at a career-low 19.6 minutes.

On the other hand, he did set career-highs when it came to his top moneymaker: shooting percentages. From the floor, Kennard shot 47.6 percent. From 3-point land, the 24-year-old wound up at an impressive 44.6 percent.

Duke basketball product on a real contender

Now, Duke basketball fans ought to bear in mind that Luke Kennard went from playing for one of the worst teams in the league last season to one of the best this go-round.

Indeed, with Sunday’s 106-81 blowout road victory over the No. 5 seed Dallas Mavericks, the No. 4 seed Los Angeles Clippers have tied the series at 2-2, regained homecourt advantage by winning two straight away from home, and thereby remain a legit threat to represent the Western Conference in the NBA Finals.

Still, though, Kennard hasn’t been injured recently but fell out of the mix regardless once the postseason arrived. Obviously, that probably doesn’t bode well for his future with the Clippers.

Entering this latest bout, Kennard hadn’t played a single minute across the team’s first three playoff outings. Then in Game 4, he saw only four minutes of mop-up time, going 0-for-1 from the field and barely avoiding an all-zeroes stat line by tallying one rebound and one assist.

Meanwhile, the Mavericks boast an NBA Blue Devil of their own, but the 36-year-old JJ Redick hasn’t been on the floor at all in more than two weeks while nursing a heel injury. He is likely to remain out at least through the end of the first round.

Game 5 is set to tip at 10 p.m. ET Wednesday in Los Angeles. Unfortunately, barring another shellacking by either side, the general consensus among insiders seems to be that folks shouldn’t expect to watch much of Luke Kennard anytime soon.