Duke basketball: 4 NBA Blue Devils among top 30 in 3-pointers
By Matt Giles
Plenty of 3-pointers in the NBA come from Duke basketball hands these days.
As the official Twitter account of the Duke basketball program pointed out on Wednesday, a quartet of NBA Blue Devils appears inside the NBA’s top 30 this season in 3-point makes.
The top two Dukies on that list are Boston Celtics small forward Jayson Tatum and Milwaukee Bucks shooting guard Grayson Allen. They sit in a tie at No. 11 with 92 splashes from downtown.
Tatum has hit only 32.9 percent of his 3-point attempts in his fifth season in the league. Yet the deep ball remains a significant part of an overall offensive repertoire that has resulted in the former one-and-done Blue Devil ranking No. 2 in the NBA this go-round in total points with 845, trailing only the 887 from Golden State Warriors shooting guard Steph Curry.
Meanwhile, as a full-time starter, Allen is shooting a career-high 40.4 percent beyond the arc. In his first season with the Bucks, the 2015 Duke national champ also averages career-highs with 12.2 points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
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The next NBA Blue Devil on the 3-point list is Los Angeles Clippers shooting guard Luke Kennard. His 90 made 3-pointers rank No. 13. Considering the former two-year Duke basketball sniper typically comes off the bench, that’s impressive. In his second season with the Clippers and fifth as a pro, he ranks No. 8 in the NBA this season with his 43.9 shooting percentage from deep.
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As for the final Dukie among the NBA’s top 30 deep weapons this season, that honor belongs to Toronto Raptors shooting guard Gary Trent Jr., who sits No. 30 with his 78 makes. Now, in his second year with the Raptors and fourth in the league, the 2017-18 one-and-done Blue Devil is averaging a career-high 16.9 points.