The Blue Devils have the most NBA players in the league, but Kyrie Irving is the only big name left for Duke in the Finals—and he delivered.
Kyrie Irving, Cleveland Cavaliers
Plagued by a toe injury at Duke, Irving never had the chance to come through when it mattered the most—but he certainly has taken advantage of his opportunities the last two years.
After helping propel the Cavaliers all the way back to win a championship from a 3-1 deficit against Golden State in the NBA Finals last season, Irving once again stepped up big for Cleveland, taking them back to face the Warriors for the third year in a row.
Despite struggling to shoot consistently in the earlier rounds of the playoffs and Game 1 of the Eastern Conference Finals against the Celtics, Irving closed strong for Cleveland, averaging nearly 30 points per game in the final four games of the series. During that stretch, the fifth-year NBA point guard shot 67 percent from the field.
That included a 42-point effort in Game 4 to help Cleveland rally from a devastating Game 3 loss in which it blew a 21-point lead. Irving did his best to help prevent that loss in Game 3, but even 29 points and seven assists weren’t
What made it all the more impressive was that Irving was not playing at 100 percent after rolling an ankle in Game 4. He returned to play after the injury in the third quarter and showed no ill effects in Game 5, helping the Cavaliers close out the series with a blowout win by scoring 24 points.
Irving will carry former Blue Devil Dahntay Jones to the Finals along with him. After losing nearly all his salary due to an ejection in the Eastern Conference semifinals, Jones didn’t make much noise, logging just 11 minutes in mop-up duty,
Brandon Ingram, Los Angeles Lakers
The 2016 No. 2 overall pick, Ingram didn’t exactly have the most productive year on the court for Los Angeles—but he’s the only thing certain about the Lakers’ future plans.
"I would say probably the only player that we would say, hey, we would probably not move is Brandon Ingram," Lakers president Magic Johnson said on ESPN Radio. "We're excited about Brandon, his length, his size, his agility, his athleticism. And then when you think about, you know, he was a baby coming in, in his first year last season and we see that he really has a high ceiling and we're excited about what he can possibly turn into."
The 6-foot-9 forward averaged 9.4 points and 4.0 rebounds per game in his rookie
Matt Jones
While the former Duke guard isn’t expected to be drafted this year, he did work out for the Milwaukee Bucks May 19.
Matt Jones is working out for the Milwaukee Bucks today. pic.twitter.com/VJCjk1ArPR
— Duke in the NBA (@DukeNBA) May 19, 2017
If he were to play in the NBA, the ACC All-Defensive team player would likely project as a role player that could play strong defense and shoot 3-pointers. Jones started all but four of Duke's 37 games this season, averaging 7.0 points and 32.9 minutes per game.
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Managing Editor 2018-19, 2019-2020 Features & Investigations Editor
A member of the class of 2020 hailing from San Mateo, Calif., Ben is The Chronicle's Towerview Editor and Investigations Editor. Outside of the Chronicle, he is a public policy major working towards a journalism certificate, has interned at the Tampa Bay Times and NBC News and frequents Pitchforks.