Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day town of Trinity in 1838, Duke university moved to Durham, North Carolina in 1892 and has been there ever since.
The university is proudly represented by the Duke Blue Devils basketball team in NCAA Division I. Their location means that they compete in the Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC).
The team has had great success over the years and is fourth of all time when it comes to wins in the NCAA.
Duke’s history includes 5 NCAA Championships and they have appeared in Championship Games 11 times. They have made the Final Four 17 times.
A lot of that success must be attributed to one man. The incredible head coach of more than 40 years, Mike Krzyzewski.
In fact, he deserves a section all to himself here.
Check out the list of achievements this guy led the Duke Blue Devils to:
MIKE KRZYZEWSKI
Years at Duke University – 1980 – 2022
5x NCAA National Championships – 2nd most in tournament history
13x Final Four finishes. 5 straight from 1988-’92
17x Elite Eights
26x Sweet Sixteens – 9 straight from 1998–’06
36x NCAA tournament berths
101x NCAA tournament wins – most in tournament history
14x No. 1 seed
28x Atlantic Coast Conference titles
15x 30-win seasons
36x 20-win seasons
Number 1 Associated Press (AP) ranking in 17/28 seasons
8x Naismith College Player of the Year Awards
9x National Defensive Players of the Year Awards
26x AP All-Americans
14x consensus first-team All-Americans
11x NBA top-10 picks
23x NBA Draft first-round picks
1,202 career wins
Clearly, the constant supply of Duke players had some part to play in all that success. But the fact remains, without the dedication, hard work, and loyalty of head coach Mike Krzyzewski, the history of men’s basketball at Duke University might look very different indeed.
It is not hard to see how Duke has a reputation for excellence. It should come as no surprise that it has produced some superstar NBA players over the years. In fact, there is possibly no institution that has produced more NBA superstars.
So it’s time to take a look at these stars and assess what they have achieved.
Here at The Jump Hub, we argued as always about the list. There are some former Duke players who didn’t make it and others that did but who we didn’t all agree should. Objectivity can be a difficult thing to achieve in an emotional sport.
In no particular order then.
Take a look at our final effort and see if you agree with our findings…
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TOP 5 BEST NBA PLAYERS FROM DUKE UNIVERSITY
CHRISTIAN LAETTNER
Born – August 17th, 1969 – Angola, New York – age 52
Years at Duke University – 1988 – 1992
Positions – Power forward, center
Measurements – 6’11” (2.11m) 235lb (106kg)
NBA Draft – 1st round, 3rd pick, 1992, Minnesota Timberwolves
NBA Debut – November 6th, 1992
Career length – 13 years
Hall of Fame – Inducted (as part of the Olympic “Dream Team”) – 1992
COLLEGE CAREER
It’s fair to say that Christian Laettner is among the greatest ever Duke players.
He helped guide Duke to the Final Four every year that he played there.
Most people will forever remember his clutch shot to beat Kentucky in the 1992 Elite Eight. It remains one of the most shocking, exhilarating moments in all of American sports history.
STATS AT DUKE UNIVERSITY:
2,460 points – 3rd of all-time
1,149 rebounds – 3rd of all time
Steals – 4th of all time
Blocks – 6th of all time
NCAA TOURNAMENT RECORDS:
Points scored – 407
Free throws made – 142
Free throw attempts – 167
Games won – 21
Games played – 23 (of a possible 24)
Laettner averaged 16.6 points and 7.8 rebounds per game during his time at Duke. He was a 3-point master and averaged 21.5 points per game in his final season there.
He won every major national award and had his jersey number (32) retired that same year.
Laettner was also the only college player selected for the iconic US Dream Team at the Olympics in 1992.
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
While Laettner’s college career is beyond reproach, he was less stable during his time in the NBA.
His first 6 seasons were his most productive but he moved from team to team rather a lot. He was traded 6 times and never stayed at one franchise for longer than 3 years.
Nevertheless, Laettner has a serious list of accolades from his NBA career:
NBA All-Star – 1997
NBA All-Rookie First Team – 1993
American Basketball Association (ABA) Champion – 2012
2× NCAA Champion – 1991, ’92
Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame – inducted 2010
NCAA Final Four Most Outstanding Player (MOP) – 1991
National college player of the year – 1992
Consensus first-team All-American – 1992
Consensus second-team All-American – 1991
ACC Player of the year – 1992
2× ACC athlete of the year – 1991, ’92
2× First-team All-ACC – 1991, ’92
Second-team All-ACC (1990)
Jersey no. 32 retired by Duke Blue Devils
USA basketball male athlete of the year – 1991
Second-team Parade All-American – 1988
Third-team Parade All-American – 1987
GRANT HILL
Born – October 5th, 1972 – Dallas, Texas – age 49
Years at Duke University – 1990 – 1994
Positions – Small forward, shooting guard
Measurements – 6’8″ (2.03m) 203lb (102kg)
NBA Draft – 1st round, 3rd pick, 1994, Detroit Pistons
NBA Debut – November 4th, 1994
Career length – 18 years
Hall of Fame – Inducted in 2018
COLLEGE CAREER
Pound for pound, in terms of talent there is possibly no better player on this list.
Hill averaged double digit-scoring in each of his four seasons with the Blue Devils. He still sits in the top 10 in all of NCAA history for assists.
GRANT HILL’S COLLEGE STATS (PER GAME):
Points – 14.9
Rebounds – 6.0
Assists – 3.6
Steals – 1.7
Field goal% – 53.2%
3-point% – 37.6%
Grant Hill won two NCAA titles during his time with the Duke Blue Devils. He became the stuff of living legend with his iconic hail mary pass to Laettner for the aforementioned winning shot against Kentucky in 1992.
During an inspired collegiate stint, Hill became the first player in ACC history to achieve more than 1,900 points, 700 rebounds, 400 assists, 200 steals, and 100 blocked shots.
His first and only season was already the stuff of legend…
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
Although he was a seven-time All-Star in the NBA, Hill’s career was ultimately blighted by injuries.
That didn’t stop him from being an influential and charismatic player for 4 franchises across an impressively long career.
He picked up the following accolades along the way:
7× NBA All-Star – 1995-’98, ’00, ’01, ’05
All-NBA First Team – 1997
4× All-NBA Second Team – 1996, ’98-’00
NBA Rookie of the Year – 1995
NBA All-Rookie First Team – 1995
3× NBA Sportsmanship Award – 2005, ’08’ ’10
2× NCAA Champion – 1991, ’92
Consensus first-team All-American – 1994
Consensus second-team All-American – 1993
ACC Player of the Year – 1994
2× First-team All-ACC – 1993, ’94
Second-team All-ACC – 1992
Jersey no. 33 retired by Duke Blue Devils
Third-team Parade All-American – 1990
ZION WILLIAMSON
Born – July 6th, 2000 – Salisbury, North Carolina – age 22
Years at Duke University – 2018 – 2019
Positions – Power forward
Measurements – 6’6″ (1.98m) 284lb (128kg)
NBA Draft – 1st round, 1st pick, 2019, New Orleans Pelicans
NBA Debut – January 22nd, 2020
Career length – 2 years
COLLEGE CAREER
When he arrived at Duke University, Zion Williamson was the most famous star college basketball had seen in more than 10 years.
Although he only played a lone season with the Duke Blue Devils, Zion racked up 500 points, 50 steals, and 50 blocks. This put him in an elite club with Kevin Durant and Anthony Davis. They are the only 3 NCAA freshmen to post those numbers.
COLLEGE STATS (PER GAME):
Points – 22.6
Rebounds – 8.9
Assists – 2.1
Steals – 2.1
Blocks – 1.8
Player Efficiency Rating (PER) – 40.8 (highest ever)
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
In his first eight games for the New Orleans Pelicans, Williamson scored at least 20 points in four straight games. This represents the longest streak by any rookie that season. With at least 20 points in six of those eight games, he also tied the longest streak in Pelicans history.
He later became the first teenager in NBA history to score 20 points or more in 10 consecutive games.
He then hit a career-high 35 points and 7 rebounds in a single game.
In fact, Williamson finished his rookie season with a 22.5 points-per-game average. That’s only 0.1 less than when he was at Duke.
He was hitting them at a rate of 58.3 percent from the floor and taking 6.3 rebounds, and 2.1 assists per game for good measure. Ranking number one among all rookies for points per game and offensive rebounds. He was also second for rebounds.
Zion Williamson became the first rookie since Michael Jordan to achieve 16 of their first 20 games with 20 points scored per game. He also recorded the highest scoring average since Jordan across his first 24 games.
NOT CONTENT WITH THIS, WILLIAMSON BECAME THE YOUNGEST PLAYER IN NBA HISTORY TO SCORE 30+ POINTS IN A GAME WITH 90% SHOOTING ACCURACY
He then tied Kareem Abdul-Jabbar’s record for the longest streak of 20+ point games with 50% or better accuracy. This continued for 25 games. No player since the introduction of 3-point shots in 1980 has had a longer streak.
The future looked astonishingly bright.
A fractured foot that stubbornly refuses to heal satisfactorily has, temporarily we hope, put the brakes on Zion Williamson’s rocketship career. But we surely haven’t seen the last of him…
NBA All-Star – 2021
NBA All-Rookie First Team – 2020
National college player of the year – 2019
Consensus first-team All-American – 2019
Wayman Tisdale Award – 2019
Karl Malone Award – 2019
NABC Freshman of the Year – 2019
ACC athlete of the year – 2019
ACC player of the year – 2019
First-team All-ACC – 2019
ACC Rookie of the year/ All-Freshman team/ ACC Tournament MVP/ ACC Tournament – 2019
J.J. REDICK
Born – June 24th, 1984 – Cookeville, Tennessee – age 38
Years at Duke University – 2002 – 2006
Positions – Shooting guard, point guard
Measurements – 6’3″ (1.90m) 200lb (90kg)
NBA Draft – 1st round, 11th pick, 2006, Orlando Magic
NBA Debut – November 25th, 2006
Career length – 15 years
In the whole history of basketball, there aren’t many players with a better shooting record than J.J. Redick.
COLLEGE CAREER
Redick was the leading scorer in three of four seasons in the NCAA. During all of those seasons, the Duke Blue Devils were named number one seeds.
He was a master at finding the hoop and is right at the top of the record tree for Duke as their number one scorer of all time.
His jersey number was, understandably, retired by the school.
During his time at Duke, he was as reliable as they come from both the free-throw line and from deep. In fact, he was the consensus Player of the Year in 2006.
Reddick is Duke’s best-ever scorer and sits in 20th place in the all time NCAA scorers list with 2,769 points.
College stats:
19.9 – points per game
2.7 – rebounds
2.2 – assists
40.6% – 3-point percentage
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
When it came time to transition to the NBA, Redick kept his cool and his shooting eye. He established himself as a key player for the Orlando Magic before joining the Los Angeles Clippers. He led the NBA for 3-point accuracy there in 2015/16 and maintained a 44% average during his stint there. The best of his career. As was his field-goal accuracy of over 46%.
After that, J.J. moved around more frequently during the latter stages of his career.
National college player of the year – 2006
2× Amber Rupp Trophy winner – 2005, ’06
2× Consensus first-team All-American – 2005, ’06
Third-team All-American, NABC – 2004
2× ACC player of the year – 2005, ’06
2× First-team All-ACC – 2005, ’06
Second-team All-ACC – 2004
Third-team All-ACC – 2003
2× ACC Tournament MVP – 2005, ’06
Jersey no. 4 retired by Duke Blue Devils
Second-team Parade All-American – 2002
JOHNNY DAWKINS
Born – September 28th, 1963 – Washington, D.C. – age 58
Years at Duke University – 1982 – 1986
Positions – Point guard
Measurements – 6’2″ (1.88m) 165lb (74kg)
NBA Draft – 1st round, 10th pick, 1986, San Antonio Spurs
NBA Debut – October 31st, 1986
Career length – 9 years
COLLEGE CAREER
Johnny Dawkins was the previous all-time leading scorer at Duke. He held that esteemed, lofty position 2 decades until J.J. Redick came along. Dawkins had 2,556 points when he left Duke and remains in 2nd place. He is also 6th for assists with 555.
In his senior season, Dawkins averaged 20.2 points per game and scooped the nation’s top Collegiate Basketball Player award – the Naismith player of the year.
His jersey number as a Blue Devil was retired in the following years.
He was also selected to the ACC 50th Anniversary men’s basketball team that honors the 50 greatest Atlantic Coast players ever.
He left Duke with:
19.2 points per game
4.2 assists
1.3 steals
PROFESSIONAL CAREER
Afte being selected in the 1986 NBA Draft by the San Antonion Spurs, Dawkins also played for the Philadelphia 76ers and the Detroit Pistons
He eventually lasted for 9 seasons in the NBA and ended with:
11.1 points per game
5.5 assists
2.5 rebounds
He was:
Naismith Player of the Year – 1986
2× Consensus first-team All-American – 1985, ’86
2× Second-team All-ACC – 1983, ’84
Jersey no. 24 retired by Duke Blue Devils
2× First-team All-ACC – 1985, ’86
Third-team Parade All-American – 1982
Following his reasonably solid NBA career, Dawkins returned to Duke and worked his way up to join Krzyzewski on the coaching staff. He became associate head coach for player development in 1999.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
There are literally dozens of players that deserve mention in this article. But we just can’t include them all. Here are the names we felt must be added simply for our own selfish, biased reasons.
Jay Williams
Years at Duke – 1999-2002
Stats (per game):
19.3 – points
6.0 – assists
2.2 – steals
39.3% – 3-point percentage
Williams led Duke to a national title in 2001. He averaged 25.7 points throughout the entirety of the NCAA tournament. Williams was a scoring machine and would quite possibly have been Duke’s highest ever scorer had he played his senior season. Instead, he was picked 2nd overall in the 2002 NBA Draft. Only Yao Ming was chosen before him such was his potential. Sadly, Jay’s career was ended prematurely after only one season by a motorcycle accident that he was lucky to survive.
Jayson Tatum
Years at Duke – 2016 – 2017
Stats (per game):
16.8 – points
7.3 – rebounds
2.1 – assists
45.2% – field goal percentage
34.2% – 3-point percentage
Without a doubt, Jayson Tatum was a deadly offensive force in the ACC during his time with Duke. He found himself in a class of extremely talented future NBA stars but still managed to shine. His performances in the 2017 NCAA Tournament included a triple-double and cemented his legacy.
Now in his 5th season with the Boston Celtics, Jayson Taytum can, nevertheless, frequently be seen supporting the Blue Devils. He attends games in person and bigs them up with his social media presence.
Shane Battier
Years at Duke – 1997 – 2001
Stats (per game): 13.6 – points
6.1 rebounds
1.7 blocks
1.8 steals
41.6% – 3-point percentage
Shane Battier (along with Jay Williams who we mentioned earlier) helped the Blue Devils win the 2001 national title game and was a highly successful, influential player for Duke overall. He was eventually picked 6th in the NBA Draft by Vancouver and was a key defensive player throughout his 14 seasons in the NBA.
Especially with the Miami Heat where he won 2 consecutive NBA championships.
All of that is true, but the reason we wanted to mention Shane Battier here is that he is such an exemplary human being. He is one of hte most respected, highly regarded former players on the scene and deserves mention for that alone.
Danny Ferry
Years at Duke – 1986 – 1989
Stats (per game):
15.1 points
7.0 rebounds
3.5 assists
Ferry was both a superior talent at college and helped take the Blue Devils to the Final Fours three times in four years.
He became the first ACC player in history to reach 2,000 points, 1,000 rebounds, and 500 assists.
58 points in a single game remains a Duke record to this day.
Ferry was picked 2nd overall in the 1989 NBA Draft and spent 13 years there. The majority of them playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers.
FURTHER NOTABLE MENTIONS
Tommy Amaker – 1983-’87
Luol Deng – 2003-’04
Tyus Jones – 2014-’15
Seth Curry – 2010-’13
Wendell Carter Jr. – 2018-’19
Cherokee Parks – 1991-’95
Gerald Henderson – 2006-’09
Elton Brand – 1997-’99
Bobby Hurley – 1989-’93
RJ Barrett – 2018-’19
Marvin Bagley III – 2017-’18
Jahlil Okafor – 2014-’15
Shelden Williams – 2002-2006
Jon Scheyer – 2006-’10
Nolan Smith – 2007-11
Kyrie Irving – 2010-’11
Brandon Ingram – 2015-’16
Carlos Boozer – 1999-’02
Vernon Carey Jr. – 2019-’20
Mike Dunleavy Jr. – 1999-’02
Kyle Singler – 2007-’11
Austin Rivers – 2011-’12
Gene Banks – 1977-’81
Mason Plumlee – 2009-’13
Grayson Allen – 2014-’18
Luke Kennard – 2015-’17
Trajan Langdon – 1994-’99
Chris Duhon – 2000-’04
Tre Jones – 2018-’20
Chris Carrawell – 1996-’00
Phil Henderson – 1986-’90
FINAL THOUGHTS
From those players producing NCAA record stints at Duke to those who went on to become NBA champions, we appreciate them all. This was a difficult article to research and write as objectivity is hard to come by and apply. Suffice it to say that we here at The Jump Hub admire and respect all of the players listed here and had the devil’s own time deciding who to include and omit.
One way or another, Duke men’s basketball has produced some of the most influential NBA careers of all time.
The Blue Devils program is, clearly a well-oiled machine that can attract and enhance top-quality players time and again. Long may it continue.
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