Duke basketball: Timberwolves now boast two Dean Dome deflators

Wendell Moore and Austin Rivers are about to be teammates.

Duke basketball guard Austin Rivers (Bob Donnan-USA TODAY Sports)

Former Duke basketball players Wendell Moore and Austin Rivers now have at least three things in common:

1. They were Duke Blue Devils.
2. They are now Minnesota Timberwolves.
3. They were responsible for two of Duke's most dramatic game-winning baskets over UNC in the Dean E. Smith Center.

Moore, who played three seasons for the Blue Devils and enjoyed his buzzer-beating overtime putback in Chapel Hill as a freshman in 2020, went No. 26 overall at the 2022 NBA Draft and landed with the Timberwolves via the trade route. The 20-year-old signed his rookie contract last week.

Then on Thursday night, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Rivers, a former one-and-done Duke guard whose famous 3-point Dean Dome splash silenced the home crowd in 2012, is heading to Minneapolis from the Denver Nuggets as a free agent. The 29-year-old inked a one-year deal.

Duke basketball's NBA journeyman

Across his 10 seasons in the league, Austin Rivers has already laced them up for six franchises: the New Orleans Pelicans (they were still the Hornets in his rookie year), Los Angeles Clippers, Washington Wizards, Houston Rockets, New York Knicks, and Nuggets.

Minnesota will mark the former No. 10 overall draft pick's seventh stop in the NBA.

Rivers' longest stint in one place was his 3.5 years with the Los Angeles Clippers, where he averaged a career-high 15.1 points as a full-time starter in 2017-18.

Last season, his first full-season campaign in Denver, Austin Rivers averaged 6.0 points, 1.7 rebounds, and 1.0 assists in 22.1 minutes per outing. He was primarily a reserve but drew 18 starts across the 67 games he played.

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