Not every Duke player went to the NBA. Their stories are just as compelling.
83 Duke players went undrafted — many found remarkable paths.
| Player | Pos | Years | Where They Are Now |
|---|---|---|---|
| Bruce Bell | Guard | 1974–78 | Judge, Fayette District Court, Lexington, Kentucky; retiring January 2027 |
| Kevin Billerman | Guard | 1974–75 | Retired December 2025 after 26 seasons as head boys' basketball coach at Ravenscroft Schoo |
| Terry Chili | Center | 1974–76 | Director, Ancillary Services Management, and president of Chili Development, after 35 year |
| Paul Fox | Guard | 1974–76 | Whereabouts unknown; last public trace is the 1988 Duke alumni game in Cameron. |
| Rick Gomez | Guard | 1974–76 | Whereabouts unknown; inducted into the Roselle Catholic (N.J.) athletic hall of fame in Ap |
| Pete Kramer | Forward | 1974–75 | Attorney in the Harrisburg, Pa. area since 1981 (Weber Gallagher; Law Offices of Peter Jos |
| George Moses | Forward | 1974–76 | Whereabouts unknown; last public trace is a 1977 Chronicle note that he was working for Mo |
| Dave O'Connell | Forward | 1974–76 | Retired in July 2025 after 49 years in corporate sales (Ryder, Equifax, Experian); lives i |
| Bill Suk | Forward | 1974–75 | Whereabouts unknown. Told the Chronicle in 1975 he planned to work with the underprivilege |
| Ken Young | Guard | 1974–76 | Deceased (date not found); listed as "the late Ken Young" among the first nominees to the |
| Scott Goetsch | Center | 1975–79 | Attorney at Moore & Jackson in Towson, Md.; Duke J.D. 1982, Maryland bar 1982, D.C. bar 19 |
| Steve Gray | Guard | 1975–79 | Served a 46-month federal sentence for insider trading (sentenced January 2015); no public |
| Cameron Hall | Forward | 1975–78 | Retired in Calgary after a career at Monsanto, E*TRADE Canada, Solium and Morgan Stanley ( |
| Harold Morrison | Forward | 1975–79 | Retired Chubb executive (33 years, to 2017; Chief Global Field Officer and Chief Administr |
| Rob Hardy | Guard | 1976–79 | Chief executive officer of Investors Heritage Life Insurance Company in Frankfort, Ky. (jo |
| Rick Mainwaring | Guard | 1976–77 | Pediatric cardiac surgeon; clinical professor of cardiothoracic surgery at Stanford and di |
| Geoff Northrop | Forward | 1976–77 | Retired workers' compensation defense attorney (Laughlin, Falbo, Levy & Moresi; California |
| John Harrell | Guard | 1977–79 | Died of an aortic aneurysm at the end of June 2008, age 50, in Durham; finished his Duke m |
| Larry Linney | Forward | 1977–81 | Post-Duke life not yet documented in the public record. If you knew Larry Linney of Winsto |
| Jim Suddath | Forward | 1977–81 | Bible teacher and chaplain at the McCallie School in Chattanooga, Tennessee, after 12 year |
| Vince Taylor | Guard | 1978–82 | Assistant coach, Tennessee State University; Lexington African American Sports Hall of Fam |
| Jim Corrigan | Guard | 1979–80 | Part-time player development coach at Excel Basketball Academy in Virginia Beach since Mar |
| Chip Engelland | Guard | 1979–83 | Assistant coach, Oklahoma City Thunder; 3x NBA Champion (2007, 2014, 2025); the most respe |
| Jon Weingart | Guard | 1979–82 | Professor of neurological surgery and oncology at Johns Hopkins, and director of its neuro |
| Allen Williams | Forward | 1979–82 | Post-Duke life not yet documented in the public record. If you knew Allen Williams — Duke |
| Loel Payne | Forward | 1979–83 | Orthopedic surgeon at Tidewater Orthopaedic Associates in Hampton, Virginia since 1995, sp |
| Cornelius "Mac" Dyke | Forward | 1980–82 | Cardiothoracic surgeon at Sanford Health in Fargo, North Dakota since 2012 and chair of UN |
| Gordon Whitted | Guard | 1980–83 | Post-Duke life not yet documented in the public record. If you knew Gordon Whitted — Duke |
| Todd Anderson | Forward | 1981–85 | Post-Duke life not yet documented in the public record; FIBA lists him with dual French an |
| Bill Jackman | Forward | 1982–83 | In Texas, chairman-elect of the University of Nebraska Foundation board, after a Chicago B |
| Weldon Williams | Guard | 1982–86 | Senior director for quality assurance at HAVI in Rosemont, Illinois; founding pastor of Tr |
| Tommy Amaker | Point Guard | 1983–87 | Head Coach, Harvard Crimson |
| Marty Nessley | Center | 1983–87 | Retired — Greensboro, NC |
| Kevin Strickland | Forward | 1984–88 | After Duke he played in France — Sceaux and Tours in Élite 2, later Saint-Brieuc in the Re |
| Billy King | Forward | 1984–88 | Managing director at ZRG Partners and TurnkeyZRG, the executive-search firm, in its sports |
| Andy Berndt | Forward | 1985–89 | Vice President and Strategic Advisor at Google, where he founded the Creative Lab in 2007 |
| Dave Colonna | Guard | 1985–90 | Executive Vice President at FIP Commercial in Miami since 2016, a South Florida commercial |
| Rey Essex | Forward | 1985–89 | Co-founder and VP of business development at EXO Checkout, the RFID self-checkout venture |
| John Smith | Forward | 1985–89 | Unknown — returned to private life |
| Quin Snyder | Point Guard | 1985–89 | Head Coach, Atlanta Hawks |
| Jon Goodman | Guard | 1986–87 | Founder and managing principal of JCG Advisory Partners, the private wealth firm he starte |
| Robert Brickey | Forward | 1987–90 | Head coach, Fayetteville Stingers (The Basketball League); lives in Fayetteville, NC; age |
| Clay Buckley | Forward/Center | 1987–91 | Founder and president of CauseNetwork, a McLean, Virginia giving marketplace that routes s |
| Joe Cook | Guard | 1987–90 | Post-Duke life not yet documented in the public record. If you knew Joe Cook — Duke 1987–9 |
| Greg Koubek | Forward | 1987–91 | YMCA Executive Director in Southern California; runs annual basketball camp in Clifton Par |
| Ron Burt | Guard | 1988–92 | Works in finance in New York, where he has spent his post-Duke career; appeared as an inte |
| Crawford Palmer | Forward | 1988–91 | Director of Sport at Limoges CSP, the only French club ever to win the EuroLeague, after a |
| Billy McCaffrey | Guard | 1989–91 | Private basketball trainer; Vanderbilt Athletics Hall of Fame (2022); District 11 Hall of |
| Christian Ast | Forward | 1990–92 | Lives in the Greater Munich area, where he runs a travel-experience business at gemeinsamr |
| Kenny Blakeney | Guard | 1990–95 | Head coach, Howard University (2019–present); back-to-back MEAC champions; 2 NCAA Tourname |
| Marty Clark | Guard | 1990–94 | Recovery advocate in the addiction-treatment industry in the Denver area, most recently at |
| Chris Collins | Guard | 1992–96 | Head coach, Northwestern University (2013–present); 3 NCAA Tournament appearances; father |
| Jeff Capel | Guard | 1993–97 | Head Coach, Pittsburgh |
| Greg Newton | Center | 1993–97 | Former assistant coach, Brock University (Ontario); lives in Niagara Falls region; retired |
| Carmen Wallace | Forward | 1993–97 | NFL/NBA Certified Contract Advisor, Athletes First (Laguna Hills, CA); founding member; ne |
| Ricky Price | Guard/Fwd | 1994–98 | Founder, Game Ready Skills & Development; speaker; author |
| Steve Wojciechowski | Guard | 1994–98 | Assistant Coach, Utah Jazz |
| Nate James | Forward | 1996–00 | Associate Head Coach, Howard University (reunited with Kenny Blakeney); married to actress |
| Nick Horvath | Forward | 1999–04 | Teaches physics and coaches boys basketball at Palmerston North Boys' High School in New Z |
| Shavlik Randolph | Forward | 2002–05 | Co-founder of Big Prime Hauling and an early investor in Fotmer Life Sciences, based in th |
| DeMarcus Nelson | Guard | 2004–08 | Retired; lives in Las Vegas, NV; Vallejo Sports Hall of Fame (2024); jersey #21 retired at |
| Greg Paulus | Guard | 2005–09 | Head Coach, Niagara University men’s basketball (since 2019); inducted into Greater Syracu |
| Jon Scheyer | Guard | 2006–10 | Head Coach, Duke University men's basketball (20th in program history). 118-24 in 4 season |
| Lance Thomas | Forward | 2006–10 | Entrepreneur and competitive angler: founder of the Slangmagic sport-fishing team and yout |
| Seth Curry | Guard | 2009–13 | Free agent (Sept 2026); 10 games for Warriors alongside Steph in 2025-26; 7th all-time NBA |
| Andre Dawkins | Guard | 2009–14 | Head boys basketball coach, Charlottesville High School (VA); director, Pro Skills Basketb |
| Josh Hairston | Forward | 2010–14 | NBPA-certified agent at Klutch Sports Group; represents Wendell Moore Jr. and others; base |
| Tyler Thornton | Guard | 2010–14 | Assistant coach at Duke under Jon Scheyer, hired in May 2025 after six seasons at Howard, |
| Quinn Cook | Guard | 2011–15 | Signed with APR of Kigali, Rwanda, for the 2026 Basketball Africa League (March 2026) afte |
| Amile Jefferson | Forward | 2012–17 | Assistant coach for the Boston Celtics under Joe Mazzulla, who won the 2024 NBA title in h |
| Marshall Plumlee | Center | 2012–16 | Harvard Business School (2022–); former Blackstone intern; Special Operations Warrior Foun |
| Matt Jones | Guard | 2013–17 | Landlord representation broker at JLL in the San Francisco Bay Area, where he landed after |
| Sean Obi | Center | 2014–17 | Graduated from Duke (sociology) and Maryland (supply chain management); career after baske |
| Chase Jeter | Forward/Center | 2015–17 | Professional basketball player, Rio Grande Valley Vipers (G League); pursuing master's deg |
| Derryck Thornton | Guard | 2015–16 | Professional basketball player overseas; most recently CSM Focsani (Romania) and Leicester |
| Marques Bolden | Center | 2016–19 | Plays center for the Santa Cruz Warriors in the NBA G League and still suits up for Indone |
| Javin DeLaurier | Forward/Center | 2016–20 | Playing professionally — Bursaspor Basketbol (Turkey, BSL) |
| Jack White | Forward | 2016–20 | Plays for Mersin MSK in Turkey’s Basketbol Süper Ligi and still suits up for the Australia |
| Trevon Duval | Point Guard | 2017–18 | Guard, Greensboro Swarm (NBA G League, Charlotte Hornets affiliate); acquired March 9, 202 |
| Matthew Hurt | Forward | 2019–21 | Professional basketball, Cedevita Olimpija (Slovenia, ABA League/EuroCup); previously Trap |
| Spencer Hubbard | Guard | 2020–25 | Duke graduate (African American Studies); pursuing career in basketball/sports |
| Jeremy Roach | Guard | 2020–24 | Guard, EWE Baskets Oldenburg (Germany, BBL), signed July 16, 2026 after a rookie pro seaso |
| Cayden Boozer | Guard | 2025– | Duke sophomore guard (2026-27), No. 2. Started the final 11 games of his freshman season; |