New Orleans Pelicans: How important is 2019-2020 for Pels’ five former Duke Blue Devils ?

Including celebrated rookie Zion Williamson, the New Orleans Pelicans have a healthy portion of former Duke Blue Devils, but some have more to prove than others heading into the 2019-2020 NBA season.

Roster construction in the NBA is a funny thing, but David Griffin and the Pelicans’ front office really took a liking to a certain college when it came to filling out their squad. The new-look Pelicans retooled this offseason to give themselves a better outlook for the future, which, on paper, they’ve done with flying colors.

Notable on this roster are the five Duke Blue Devils prepared to suit up for New Orleans entering the 2019-2020 season. All playing under coach Mike Krzyzewski, none of the five ever played alongside each other under the record-setting Duke play-caller.

Considering Duke is one of the powerhouses of college basketball and often draws multiple top-20 recruits, it’s unsurprising that a lot of Coach K’s players end up on NBA rosters. It’s somewhat surprising, however, to have a third of an active roster all attend the same school.

Having such an array of Duke guys is interesting. Duke draws a lot of incredible talent to their basketball program, which is interesting to see the Pelicans acknowledging in their roster formation.

There’s also a fair amount of critical talent on this roster that attended the university, not just some guys at the back of the bench, Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Frank Jackson, Jahlil Okafor, and JJ Reddick are all alumni of the prestigious Durham, North Carolina educational institution.

Interestingly, none of the five crossed paths as members of the Blue Devils basketball organization. This does make some sense, considering four-out-of-five were one-and-done guys, entering the draft after a season in blue.

While Reddick is entering the last few chapters of an epic career, the other four were selected by various clubs in each of the last five seasons, so they’re just starting to get their feet wet in the NBA.

Arguably, the team’s two most important players spent their college careers at Duke: Williamson and Ingram. The tandem of star forwards has high expectations headed into next season, just like they did as top-three recruits coming into college. Williamson has more of a runway, while Ingram is entering the crucial final fourth and final year of his rookie deal.

There are 23 current Duke Blue Devils in the NBA, which means the Pelicans have a 21.7% share of all their top-tier professionals. So, let’s take an inventory of which former Devil-turned-Pel has the most on the line entering the season.