With the NBA set to begin the 2022-23 season on Tuesday night, the Duke men’s basketball program has 25 members of The Brotherhood on opening-day rosters.
The list was compiled from the NBA’s official opening-day rosters (including two-way and inactive lists) and includes any Blue Devil that played and finished their college basketball careers at Duke.
Duke’s players are spread across the country at a total of 17 NBA franchises, including a trio of Blue Devils with the Knicks (Cam Reddish, Trevor Keels, RJ Barrett), and duos in Atlanta (Jalen Johnson, AJ Griffin), Brooklyn (Kyrie Irving, Seth Curry), Charlotte (Mark Williams, Mason Plumlee), Orlando (Paolo Banchero, Wendell Carter Jr.), Minnesota (Wendell Moore Jr., Austin Rivers) and New Orleans (Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram).
Tre Jones and his brother Tyus Jones are scheduled to play each other four times this season as members of two different teams in the Southwest Division, with Tre on the San Antonio Spurs and Tyus on the Memphis Grizzlies.
The overall No. 1 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Banchero makes his NBA debut against Detroit Wednesday night. He was the fifth Blue Devil drafted No. 1 overall – joining active players Irving and Williamson – as Duke boasts the most No. 1 picks in NBA history. The Blue Devils have also produced 29 Lottery picks, an NBA draft record for a single school.
The 2022 NBA Draft was historic for the Blue Devils, with Banchero as the No. 1 pick leading a Duke record five drafted, including Williams (No. 15, Charlotte), Griffin (No. 16, Atlanta), Moore (No. 26, Dallas) and Keels (No. 42, New York). Duke’s four first-rounders matched a program record for a single draft, first set in 1999.
Those five are closing in on their NBA debuts, along with Jack White, who graduated from Duke in 2020 after a four-year career and made the Denver Nuggets roster this season after playing professionally in Australia for the last two years.
Duke’s 25 NBA players – the second most on opening-day rosters behind Kentucky’s 27 – also join more than 30 former players, coaches, managers and Duke graduates that serve on NBA coaching staffs or in front office roles. That includes 1984 Duke graduate Adam Silver (NBA Commissioner), Grant Hill (part owner of the Atlanta Hawks), Elton Brand (General Manager of the Philadelphia 76ers) and Trajan Landon (General Manager of the New Orleans Pelicans).
Blue Devils in the NBA
Grayson Allen – Milwaukee
Marvin Bagley III – Detroit
Paolo Banchero – Orlando
RJ Barrett – New York
Vernon Carey Jr. – Washington
Wendell Carter Jr. – Orlando
Seth Curry – Brooklyn*
AJ Griffin – Atlanta
Brandon Ingram – New Orleans
Kyrie Irving – Brooklyn
Jalen Johnson – Atlanta
Tre Jones – San Antonio
Tyus Jones – Memphis
Trevor Keels – New York
Luke Kennard – LA Clippers
Wendell Moore Jr. – Minnesota
Mason Plumlee – Charlotte
Cam Reddish – New York
Austin Rivers – Minnesota
Jayson Tatum – Boston
Gary Trent Jr. – Toronto
Jack White – Denver
Mark Williams – Charlotte
Zion Williamson – New Orleans
Justise Winslow – Portland
* – inactive
