Duke basketball (Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports)
Five Duke basketball players in first round of NBA Draft big board
The 2022 NBA Draft takes place on June 23 — in exactly two weeks — and the possibility remains that the Duke basketball program will match Kentucky's record-setting 2010 feat by putting five of its players in the first round.
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At least one widely respected big board from this week projects a quintet of Blue Devil first-rounders (three one-and-dones, one sophomore, and one junior).
Before listing where they appear on that, let's review, for comparison's sake, where those 2010 Wildcats (four one-and-dones and one junior) came off the board on draft night:
- 1 - John Wall
- 5 - DeMarcus Cousins
- 14 - Patrick Patterson
- 18 - Eric Bledsoe
- 29 - Daniel Orton
That averages to a 13.4 draft placement. In other words, it averages to about the tail end of the 14 lottery picks.
This year's five Blue Devils aren't likely to outdo that standard as a unit. However, if judging solely by this week's updated big board via CBS Sports, they could come close (the following averages to 16.2):
- 3 - Paolo Banchero
- 6 - AJ Griffin
- 18 - Mark Williams
- 25 - Wendell Moore
- 29 - Trevor Keels
Duke basketball draft predictions, per SI.com
The most recent SI.com mock draft, courtesy of Jeremy Woo on Monday, shows four Duke products going in the first round and one early in the second round (note all three one-and-dones landing with the same franchise):
- 2 - Banchero to the Oklahoma City Thunder
- 11 - Williams to the New York Knicks
- 12 - Griffin to the Thunder (from the Los Angeles Clippers)
- 28 - Moore to the Golden State Warriors
- 34 - Keels to the Thunder
Four Blue Devils have become first-round selections in the same NBA Draft on only one occasion. And it may surprise some folks that it was not this century.
No, it happened in 1999, with the following Duke names ending up among the first 14 draft picks: Elton Brand (1), Trajan Langdon (11), Corey Maggette (13), and William Avery (14).
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