All-Time Duke Leaders in NBA Stats

[jv001]

Ferry is the player with 67 thanks to some solid Spurs teams near the end of his career. Mason Plumlee is just outside the top 5 with 60. Dahntay Jones might be the winner at 74?

Interestingly, at the other extreme is Corey Maggette, who was in the NBA for 14 seasons and only made the playoffs once, 2005-2006 with the Clippers for 12 games. G-man, Dunleavy and Laettner also stuck around for a long time on bad teams.

Jeff Mullins came to mind but like someone said, back then there were not that many playoff games. I think Mullins did play on a championship team, the Warriors? We are so blessed to have seen some great Duke basketball players.

GoDuke!

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Jeff Mullins came to mind but like someone said, back then there were not that many playoff games. I think Mullins did play on a championship team, the Warriors? We are so blessed to have seen some great Duke basketball players.

GoDuke!

Excellent call! Mullins played 83 so he makes the cut - he was on the 1975 championship Warriors (finding all of this on basketball-reference).

[nmduke2001]

Do you have a Duke list for the number of NBA Championship rings as players? And as coaches/front office?

Isn't that list super short for players?

Ferry - Spurs
Battier - Miami
Kyrie - Cleveland
Quinn - LA and GS
Dahntay - Cleveland

[DU82]

Isn't that list super short for players?

Ferry - Spurs
Battier - Miami
Kyrie - Cleveland
Quinn - LA and GS
Dahntay - Cleveland

Jeff Mullins, Warriors 1975

[jv001]

Excellent call! Mullins played 83 so he makes the cut - he was on the 1975 championship Warriors (finding all of this on basketball-reference).

Thanks for that info on Mullins. I had some pretty good discussions with my Duke friends back in the day on who was the best Duke player, Heyman or Mullins. I said Mullins by a hair.

GoDuke!

[brevity]

I could be wrong by saying this, but I'm not tempted to look up any pre-K players because there are so many more playoff games now than in the past.

Excellent call! Mullins played 83 so he makes the cut - he was on the 1975 championship Warriors (finding all of this on basketball-reference).

So I was wrong. Amazing question, the kind that would stump a chat room (or a physical roomful of Duke fans, whenever that happens again).

Do you have a Duke list for the number of NBA Championship rings as players? And as coaches/front office?

Chuck Daly? Nick Arison?

[CrazyNotCrazie]

Thanks for that info on Mullins. I had some pretty good discussions with my Duke friends back in the day on who was the best Duke player, Heyman or Mullins. I said Mullins by a hair.

GoDuke!

Also, not in the top 5 but Jack Marin had 51, which might be top 10 (though likely not for long).

[brevity]

This 2016 article from GoDuke celebrates the Cleveland Cavaliers championship:

Irving and Jones give Duke five players who have combined to win six NBA titles, joining Jeff Mullins (1975, Golden State), Danny Ferry (2003, San Antonio) and Shane Battier (2012 and 2013, Miami).

So that's the player list before Quinn Cook joined.

Chuck Daly? Nick Arison?

Also Steve Pagliuca.

[rocketeli]

You can't trust basketball reference too much. JJ Redick has actually scored 12,941 points per ESPN--regular season only is 11735 and post season is 1196. Don't know why they haven't updated their lists lately/

[House P]

I’m’ll say Redick, Battier, and Boozer for sure due to longevity and being on decent teams. Deng for his Bulls tenure. Irving?

3 out of 5 for the first person to respond is pretty good.

Ferry is the player with 67 thanks to some solid Spurs teams near the end of his career. Mason Plumlee is just outside the top 5 with 60. Dahntay Jones might be the winner at 74?

Yes, Dahntay Jones is 5th.

Jeff Mullins came to mind but like someone said, back then there were not that many playoff games.

Jeff Mullins is the pre-Coach K guy I expected most people to miss.


Unless, I missed someone, here are the top 20.

1. Battier 112
2. Reddick 110
3T. Boozer 83
3T. Mullins 83
5. Dahntay 74
6. Ferry 67
7. Deng 62
8. Kyrie 61
9. Mason Plumlee 60
10. Jack Marin 51
11T. Laettner 45
11T. Rivers 45
11T. Tatum 45
14. Hood 44
15T. Elton 40
15T. Quinn 40
17. Semi Ojeleye* 36
18. Grant Hill 39
19. Gminski 35
20. Dunleavy 32


*Other folks can't discuss whether Semi should be included on this list or not.

[brevity]

You can't trust basketball reference too much. JJ Redick has actually scored 12,941 points per ESPN--regular season only is 11735 and post season is 1196. Don't know why they haven't updated their lists lately/

I never noticed that. The Basketball-Reference page for J.J. Redick has the same numbers for regular season points and playoff points as ESPN, but the total of 12,941 is never provided. Its Duke alumni page lists only regular season numbers for everybody.

So Basketball-Reference lists career numbers that consistently leave out the postseason, and maybe it is consistently wrong to do so.

[sagegrouse]

I’m’ll say Redick, Battier, and Boozer for sure due to longevity and being on decent teams. Deng for his Bulls tenure. Irving?

Going from old to new -- lots of playoff games:

Mullins -- laboring in the obscurity of the West Coast -- lots of playoff experience
Ferry -- that San Antonio streak
Battier -- I think so
Redick -- definitely -- 13 or 14 appearances in a row

Need one more
Hill -- big question mark here
Boozer -- also a ???

Not these--
I'll go with with Kyrie

[Bay Area Duke Fan]

Thanks for that info on Mullins. I had some pretty good discussions with my Duke friends back in the day on who was the best Duke player, Heyman or Mullins. I said Mullins by a hair.

Mullins was clearly a better NBA player than Heyman. But Heyman was the better Duke player ('63 NPOY).

[JasonEvans]

Unless, I missed someone, here are the top 20.

1. Battier 112
2. Reddick 110
3T. Boozer 83
3T. Mullins 83
5. Dahntay 74
6. Ferry 67
7. Deng 62
8. Kyrie 61
9. Mason Plumlee 60
10. Jack Marin 51
11T. Laettner 45
11T. Rivers 45
11T. Tatum 45
14. Hood 44
15T. Elton 40
15T. Quinn 40
17. Semi Ojeleye* 36
18. Grant Hill 39
19. Gminski 35
20. Dunleavy 32

*Other folks can't discuss whether Semi should be included on this list or not.

Tatum is going to rocket up that list over the course of his career. Hard not to see him playing in double-digit playoff games every year for the next decade.

[bundabergdevil]

3 out of 5 for the first person to respond is pretty good.



Yes, Dahntay Jones is 5th.



Jeff Mullins is the pre-Coach K guy I expected most people to miss.


Unless, I missed someone, here are the top 20.

1. Battier 112
2. Reddick 110
3T. Boozer 83
3T. Mullins 83
5. Dahntay 74
6. Ferry 67
7. Deng 62
8. Kyrie 61
9. Mason Plumlee 60
10. Jack Marin 51
11T. Laettner 45
11T. Rivers 45
11T. Tatum 45
14. Hood 44
15T. Elton 40
15T. Quinn 40
17. Semi Ojeleye* 36
18. Grant Hill 39
19. Gminski 35
20. Dunleavy 32


*Other folks can't discuss whether Semi should be included on this list or not.

JJ must be a frustrated guy with all those play-off appearances and not a shot at the big series. Didn't quite get there while he was at Duke either despite good teams and opportunities every year. I think he's said he'd like to play another 3-5 years if he's able. Maybe he'll get there. It'd be nice to see such a lifetime basketball career culminate in at least one opportunity in the Finals.

[FellowTraveler]

I never noticed that. The Basketball-Reference page for J.J. Redick has the same numbers for regular season points and playoff points as ESPN, but the total of 12,941 is never provided. Its Duke alumni page lists only regular season numbers for everybody.

So Basketball-Reference lists career numbers that consistently leave out the postseason, and maybe it is consistently wrong to do so.

It is pretty standard for career statistics to include only regular season. Kareem’s points record is generally discussed as ~38,000. Hank Aaron celebrated passing Babe Ruth when he hit his 715th home run, not when he hit his 730th. (The same holds for single seasons: Roger Maris’ 61st home run would’ve left him one behind Ruth if post season HR were included.)

I’m sure there are exceptions but as a general matter across professional team sports, when statistical records and totals are discussed the default is that they are regular season only. So, yes, we can trust basketball reference, and their career totals are correct.

[kako]

If you are like me and mostly follow the NBA during the playoffs, you might be excused for underestimating Mike Dunleavy's NBA career. While Mike ranks 3rd in terms of total NBA regular season games played by a former Duke player, he ranks 19th in terms of playoff games played.

Mike played in a total of 32 NBA playoff games. This is fewer than Quinn Cook and Semi Ojeleye have played to date. It appears that Mike's only made it past the first round of the playoffs once during his 15 year NBA career.

Here is a quick trivia question. Sporks to the first person who can name the 5 former Duke players who have played in the most NBA playoff games.

From an expectations/results perspective, Dunleavy had the unfortunate luck of being draft 3rd by GSW. The Warriors were absolutely awful for many year (want a laugh? This article, which goes through their drafts and trades each year since the '75 championship, was prior to Golden State's recent run. As a Warriors fan who lived though it, I sighed when I read it originally, laughed at it during their run, and now just read it for amusement). I told all my friends that Dunleavy was drafted way too high. As #3, you are expected to become a savior. And Dunleavy was not going to be a savior. Nope... He took major grief, though again not his fault. But on the other hand, I told people that he would be a career pro once he left GSW. After finally escaping the Warriors (were he was often compared to Notre Dame product Troy Murphy so much that fans labeled them as Dunmurphy twins/sisters, though it was - again - GSW's fault at trying to use them as a starting NBA frontcourt, along with Colgate's Adonal Foyle!... Man, those were bad years), he had his playoff games in the Eastern Conference, mostly with Chicago. He was a smart player, a utility knife kind of guy in the pros. And dude made a lot of money. Now he's in GSW's front office (new ownership, which led to the championships, along with MUCH better drafting).

9F

[heyman25]

Mullins was clearly a better NBA player than Heyman. But Heyman was the better Duke player ('63 NPOY).

Agree, though I think a film about Art Heyman off court life would make a great film. I think he used to hang out with Broadway Joe Namath in the New York night life. Always regret not going to his bar in Manhattan.As a little boy in Durham Heyman and Jeff Mullins and Terry Murray a freshman had Thanksgiving at my home in Trinity Park neighborhood in Durham.Heyman checked into a motel in Myrtle Beach under the name of Oscar Robertson with a co-ed female student.He was the Christian Laettner of 1963.

[heyman25]

Heyman did better in the ABA with the championship Pittsburgh Pipers that featured the legendary Connie Hawkins. Bob Verga and Mike Lewis played in the ABA.

[JasonEvans]

And dude made a lot of money. Now he's in GSW's front office (new ownership, which led to the championships, along with MUCH better drafting).

$84 million in NBA salary. Anyone want to put together a list of the highest earning Dukies in the NBA? I wonder if Dunleavy makes the top ten. Here are a few to get you started:

Elton Brand $169 mil
Carlos Boozer $146 mil
Grant Hill $142 mil
Kyrie Irving $126 mil (with well over $100 mil to come over this season and the next 2 from the Nets)
JJ Redick $104 mil
Corey Maggette $89 mil