Duke Basketball Players Who Became NBA Rookie of the Year

Orlando Magic forward Paolo Banchero, who led the 2021-22 Duke basketball team to the Final Four as a freshman before going No. 1 overall at last summer's draft, won't be the unanimous NBA Rookie of the Year. No, The Salt Lake Tribune's Andy Larsen has already revealed his seemingly homer-ish pick of Utah Jazz center Walker Kessler.

Even so, Banchero tied the rookie record of now-all-time great LeBron James, the 2004 NBA Rookie of the Year with the Cleveland Cavaliers, with his 40 games scoring 20 or more points this season.

And judging from the confirmed ballots of dozens of other voters, there's no doubt the 20-year-old Seattle native and 2022 ACC Rookie of the Year will take home the hardware with an overwhelming majority of votes.

He's one of three finalists, along with Kessler and Oklahoma City Thunder guard Jalen Williams, and the only Blue Devil this go-round among the seven awards' three finalists apiece that the NBA announced on Friday.

Paolo Banchero averaged 20.0 points, 6.9 boards, and 3.7 assists for a squad that didn't reach the postseason but improved as the season progressed. Orlando finished with a respectable 34-48 overall record despite a discouraging 5-20 start to its campaign.

The league won't begin handing out its awards until next week (the announcement schedule for next week won't be known until Sunday). But again, it's long looked like a lock that Banchero will become the fourth former Blue Devil to become NBA Rookie of the Year in the 70 years since the honor's inception.

Duke basketball's three NBA Rookie of the Year winners to date

The first two to do so, then-Detroit Pistons forward Grant Hill in 1995 and Chicago Bulls big man Elton Brand in 2000, were co-NBA Rookie of the Year recipients with Dallas Mavericks guard Jason Kidd and Houston Rockets guard Steve Francis, respectively.

Then in 2012, Cleveland Cavaliers guard Kyrie Irving became the third and latest former Duke basketball talent to win the award and the first to do so outright.

Hill, who went No. 3 at the 1994 NBA Draft following three Final Four trips and two national championships at Duke, is the only one of those Blue Devils, including presumptive 2023 winner Paolo Banchero, who wasn't a top overall draft pick.

Plus, Hill is the only one who didn't leave early for the pros after only one season (Irving, Banchero) or two (Brand).

Interestingly, all four of their rookie scoring averages were within 1.6 points of each other: Banchero at 20.0, Irving at 18.5, Brand at 20.1, and Hill at 19.9.

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