Bleacher Report’s preseason shooting rankings for the 2026-27 NBA season put three Duke alumni on the board, with Kyrie Irving, Luke Kennard and Kon Knueppel all earning spots in the top 15.
The list of the league’s 30 best shooters featured plenty of familiar college names, and Duke had a strong showing even before you get to the omissions. Kennard landed at No. 9, Irving came in at No. 12, and Knueppel cracked the top three at No. 3 after a rookie year that turned heads across the league.
Kennard’s case is easy to make. He ranked second all-time in career 3-point percentage at 44.2%, trailing only Steve Kerr.
In nine NBA seasons, he has shot 39.9% or better from beyond the arc in eight of them, led the league in 3-point percentage three times, and posted his best mark at 49.4% during the 2022-23 season. He has also hit 46.6% of his field-goal attempts and 88.5% of his free throws for his career.
Irving still found himself near the top despite missing the entire 2025-26 season while recovering from an ACL tear. The former No. 1 overall pick owns career marks of 47.4% from the field, 39.4% from 3-point range and 88.8% from the foul line. He has also shot 40% or better from deep in eight of his 14 NBA seasons.
Then there’s Knueppel, whose first year in the league looked like the kind of start that forces people to pay attention fast. The rookie nearly reached 50/40/90 territory, finishing at 47.5% from the field, 42.5% from 3-point range and 86.3% from the line. He also led the NBA in 3-pointers made while setting a rookie record for makes from beyond the arc.
Not every Duke shooter made the cut. Grayson Allen was left off despite shooting better than 40% from 3-point range for his career and leading the NBA in 3-point percentage once. Jayson Tatum also did not appear on the list, with the explanation that his efficiency lags behind some of the players ranked ahead of him, even though his long-range volume is much higher.
In Other News...
Duke Loss Now Overshadowed By Kimari Robinson Sideline Backlash
A brief sideline moment during Dukes game has ended up drawing more attention than the final score, after cornerback Kimari Robinson swatted the arm of a female athletic trainer who was attending to injured teammate Landan Callahan. The interaction was quick, but it was enough to set off a wave of criticism from fans on social media and add an unwelcome layer to a night already shaped by the loss.
For Duke, the bigger issue now is less about the play on the field than what happens next. It remains unclear whether Robinson will face any disciplinary action from the school, leaving the incident hanging over the program as observers wait to see how seriously it will be handled. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Rivalry Game Sparked A Kimari Robinson Debate The Program Can't Ignore
The moment during Dukes rivalry game against North Carolina was supposed to be about the injury to Dashawn Stone, who needed attention on the field before eventually walking off under his own power. Instead, it became about Kimari Robinson, the Duke defensive back whose reaction as the medical staff rushed in quickly spread online and turned a routine injury stoppage into a much bigger conversation.
What made the clip land so hard was the sight of a female athletic trainer trying to help and getting swatted away, a sequence that drew widespread criticism almost as soon as it surfaced. For a program that plays under a spotlight every time it meets UNC, this is the kind of moment that cant simply be brushed aside, because the replay is now part of the rivalry memory whether Duke wants it there or not. [Read more 🡒]
Duke Let Another North Carolina Shot Slip Away Late
Duke had put itself in position to steal one in a tense rivalry game, climbing back from an early deficit and hanging around deep into the second half before the finish turned on the kind of small errors that tend to decide October games. The Blue Devils never got much margin for error against North Carolina, and a night that featured injuries, lineup shuffling and uneven red-zone work ultimately came down to whether they could clean up the details when it mattered most.
Manny Diaz pointed to the basics afterward, which fit the way this one slipped away. Duke had chances to make the game tilt its way, but the final stop never came and the missed opportunities inside the scoring area left too much undone in a 24-20 loss. For a team trying to build on the resilience it showed early, the lesson was plain enough: the effort was there, but the execution in the closing stretch still has to sharpen. [Read more 🡒]