NBA: Ranking the 10 greatest Duke players in NBA history

Ranking the 10 greatest Duke players in NBA history: 1. Grant Hill

On a list of the best college careers for Duke players, the likes of Christian Laettner, Jay Williams and J.J. Redick all appear, but they are on the fringes or worse of the players with the best NBA careers. Not so for Grant Hill, who would be in the mix for the top slot on both lists.

Hill was a part of two championship Duke teams and led them to a third title game in 1994. He threw the greatest pass in college basketball history against Kentucky in 1992 and was a consensus All-American during his senior season. The Detroit Pistons took him third overall in the 1994 NBA Draft.

The talent of Grant Hill was undeniable in the NBA, and he made the All-Star team as a rookie as he filled up the stat sheet. He would go on to make the All-Star team for six consecutive seasons (not counting 1999 when there was no All-Star game). Yet upon signing with the Orlando Magic in 2000 disaster struck in the form of significant lower-body injuries, and his career would never be the same.

That doesn’t mean Hill didn’t battle back, missing the vast majority of four seasons before battling back to once again be an All-Star in 2005, and even playing all but three games total over a three-game span in his late 30s with the Phoenix Suns.

In total Hill was a seven-time All-Star and made five All-NBA teams. In 1996-97 he finished third in the MVP voting behind Karl Malone and Michael Jordan. His five-category contributions were elite: points, rebounds, assists, steals and blocks – Grant Hill got them all. He ranks 17th in NBA history with 29 career triple-doubles despite all of the injuries robbing him of games.

No other Duke player has yet come close to matching the dominance of Hill’s career, although if Zion Williamson stays healthy he has the chance to match it. While Duke can’t match the very top-end talent in basketball history of UNC or UCLA, under head coach Mike Krzyzewski they have sent a lot of players to the professional leagues while seeing unparalleled success at the collegiate level.

Grant Hill leads them all, the best career at the top of an ever-growing mountain of Duke alumni. Coach K’s final season in 2021-22 will mean another team stocked with NBA talent. Whether Williamson, Tatum or a player yet to make the leap from Duke to the NBA eventually passes him, fans and alumni of Duke University can enjoy watching their former players ball out in the NBA.