The Charlotte Hornets’ offseason move to bring in Grayson Allen has already earned a public stamp of approval from one of his new teammates - and it comes from an old UNC rival.
Coby White, who played at North Carolina, said Allen’s track record stands out more than anything else. White pointed to Allen’s history of being around successful teams and successful environments, making clear he believes that matters when it comes to winning at the NBA level.
“The one thing I’ve always noticed about G.A. (Grayson Allen) is his ability to impact winning,” White told the Charlotte Observer.
“Everywhere he’s gone, he’s won. Whether it’s Milwaukee, he’s been a winner everywhere he goes.
He’s been part of a winning culture. He’s been part of a winning organization.
So I think first and foremost, he knows what winning looks like, and he knows what it takes to win at this level."
Allen arrives in Charlotte as the Hornets add another Duke connection to the roster. He joins Kon Knueppel and Sion James, two former Blue Devils who are entering their second season.
White’s praise carries a little extra weight given the Duke-UNC backdrop, even if the two never actually matched up in college. Their timelines never overlapped in that way: White’s first season at UNC came in 2018-19, which was Allen’s rookie year in the NBA.
Allen, a 2014-15 NCAA Champion and four-year Duke forward, has not won an NBA championship yet. Still, White’s point was that Allen has been part of winning groups before, including the Bucks’ first-place finish in the Eastern Conference during the 2022-23 season. White seems ready to see that influence carry into the 2026-27 campaign.
In Other News...
Duke Still Looks Like The ACC Team Everyone Must Chase
Louisville has been busy reshaping its roster for Pat Kelseys second act, and the latest addition only reinforces how aggressive the Cardinals are trying to be. Fifth-year transfer Seth Trimble is headed over from North Carolina, joining a group that already includes several other transfers and a highly rated freshman for the 2026-27 season. With so much turnover, Adrian Wooley stands out as the lone key returner, making Louisville look like a team built almost entirely from fresh pieces.
Even with that kind of roster churn elsewhere in the league, Duke still looks like the standard everyone in the ACC is chasing. The Blue Devils are projected to open as the conferences top team, and the reason is simple enough: they bring back multiple starters while also layering in portal help and another strong recruiting class. In a league where so many contenders are still trying to figure out their identity, Duke already has the kind of continuity and talent base that keeps it at the front of the conversation. [Read more 🡒]
Jon Scheyer Has Duke In The Mix For Another Rising Talent
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Montgomery is part of a growing group of top targets for the Blue Devils in that class, as the staff keeps working through several high-end options while building out its 2027 board. Duke currently checks in at No. 8 in 247Sports recruiting rankings for the cycle, and offers like this suggest Scheyer is leaving himself plenty of room to chase more than one premium piece before the picture comes into focus. [Read more 🡒]
Dukes New Offensive Identity Is Starting To Take Shape
Dukes offense is entering a new phase after an offseason that stripped away several key contributors through the transfer portal and the NFL Draft. With so much turnover around the skill positions, Manny Diaz is expected to reshape the attack around what remains, leaning more heavily on the ground game and on a tight end group that now carries far more importance than it did a year ago.
Nate Sheppard is part of that shift, giving Duke a backfield piece it can build around, while Jeremiah Hasley and Nate Kurisky give the Blue Devils a different kind of target structure in the passing game. The early read is that the offense will be defined less by star power and more by how quickly those pieces settle into larger roles, especially as Duke tries to establish a clearer identity heading into the season. [Read more 🡒]