Road to Duke
Josh McRoberts grew up in Carmel, Indiana, a prosperous suburb north of Indianapolis, in a basketball-centric family. His father, Tim McRoberts, was a Carmel High School alumnus who had played on the school’s basketball team. His mother, Jennifer, was a teacher. He had two younger sisters, Elizabeth and Sarah, and a younger brother, Zach. One of his most influential mentors was the late Eric Clark, a beloved Carmel administrator, teacher, and head coach for football, basketball, and track, for whom the school’s athletic facilities were eventually named.
What separates McRoberts from most blue-chip recruits is the modesty of his original ambition. In a 2016 interview with WTHR in Indianapolis, McRoberts stood on the Carmel court where the Greyhounds play and said: ‘I just love playing basketball. I had the opportunity to play from an early age. My family was always involved in it. Honestly my biggest dream was probably to play here, to play at Carmel High School. That was my biggest aspiration. So everything after that was like a bonus to me.’ His picture hangs on the wall outside the gym.
At Carmel, McRoberts became one of the most decorated high school players in Indiana history. As a senior, he averaged 17.9 points, 11.4 rebounds, 4.2 assists, and 3.0 blocks while shooting 59.3% from the field, leading the Greyhounds to a 21–4 record and a sectional championship game. He finished his high school career with 1,264 points, 759 rebounds, 255 assists, and 259 blocks. He was rated the No. 1 power forward in the Class of 2005 by Rivals.com and Scout.com, ranked second overall nationally, and named the top-ranked senior by Bob Gibbons. He was named the Morgan Wootten Award winner as the McDonald’s All-American Player of the Year and won the McDonald’s All-American Game MVP with 17 points on 7-of-8 shooting and a game-high 12 rebounds. He was also a first-team Parade All-American and All-USA Today selection. He was a finalist for Indiana Mr. Basketball (finishing behind Luke Zeller). He was a five-tool athlete who also earned all-conference honors in golf as a scratch golfer and was a two-time league champion in both the high jump and triple jump.
At Duke
McRoberts arrived at Duke in the fall of 2005 as the headliner of what was supposed to be the nation’s top recruiting class. The class included McRoberts, point guard Greg Paulus, center Eric Boateng, power forward Jamal Boykin, and guard Marty Pocius. Duke Basketball Report would later call it ‘a major disappointment — at least in Duke terms.’ Boateng and Boykin transferred. Pocius became a European professional but never contributed at Duke. Paulus finished his college career playing football for Syracuse. Of the five, only McRoberts delivered on his recruiting ranking — and even he fell short of the standard that had been set for him.
But before the disappointment, there was the bonding. A Sports Illustrated feature from November 2005 captured a quintessential Duke scene: J.J. Redick, the most famous player in college basketball, driving McRoberts home from practice in his 2001 Toyota Corolla. McRoberts’s 6-foot-10 frame was jammed into the passenger seat, knees near his chin. ‘It seems like J.J.’s always driving me around,’ McRoberts said, ‘and I’m always paying for his gas.’ Redick took McRoberts home to Roanoke over fall break; McRoberts hosted Redick in Carmel. They played video games instead of going to clubs. Redick, when asked what he thought during the NCAA president’s ‘message: graduate’ speech, cracked: ‘That there’s no way this dude’s going to graduate.’ Coach K compared McRoberts’s potential to Grant Hill’s.
As a freshman, McRoberts averaged 8.7 points and 5.3 rebounds while leading Duke in field goal percentage (60.5%). He made the ACC All-Freshman team. Duke went 32–4, won the ACC regular-season and tournament titles, and reached the Sweet Sixteen. He scored 16 points on 5-of-5 shooting in the ACC Tournament championship game against Boston College. His late-season surge — 10 double-figure scoring games in his final 14 — suggested the best was yet to come.
It wasn’t. Before his sophomore year, McRoberts underwent a lumbar discectomy on August 3, 2006, for chronic back problems that had plagued him since high school. He recovered in time for the season opener and was named one of three team captains — he and Paulus became the first two sophomore captains in Duke history. On December 19 against Kent State, McRoberts had the game of his life: 19 points, six blocks, six rebounds, four assists, and four steals — the first Duke player ever to tally at least four in all five statistical categories. He made All-ACC and ACC All-Defense. But Duke lost to VCU in the first round of the 2007 NCAA Tournament, 79–77. McRoberts played all 40 minutes and put up 22 points and 12 rebounds with five blocks and four assists — but missed two of four free throws in the final 1:41. Eric Maynor hit a game-winning jumper with 1.8 seconds left. Krzyzewski said McRoberts and Paulus ‘really carried us.’ It wasn’t enough.
McRoberts declared for the draft after the VCU loss. A year earlier, he had been projected as a mid-to-late first-round pick. His stock had fallen. Portland took him 37th overall — second round. The kid who had been the No. 1 power forward in America and the McDonald’s All-American Game MVP was a second-round pick two years later. It was the sharpest draft-stock decline of any Duke player in the Brotherhood.
After Duke
McRoberts spent eleven seasons in the NBA playing for seven teams: Portland Trail Blazers (2007–08), Indiana Pacers (2008–11), Los Angeles Lakers (2011–12), Orlando Magic (2012–13), Charlotte Bobcats/Hornets (2013–14), Miami Heat (2014–17), and Dallas Mavericks (2017–18). He was not a star. He was not an All-Star. He was what Pau Gasol, his Lakers teammate, called ‘scrappy and a hustler’ — a screen-setter with a decent jumper, excellent passing skills for a big man, and a relentless motor. His scoring came off fast breaks, rebounds, and hustle plays.
His best NBA season was 2013–14 in Charlotte, where he started all 78 games and scored a career-high 24 points against Orlando. His biggest payday came in July 2014, when the Miami Heat signed him to a four-year, $23 million contract. But he tore his right meniscus 17 games into the first season and never regained his footing in Miami. Hassan Whiteside’s emergence took his starting spot. A bruised knee cost him two months. A stress fracture in his left foot ended his 2016–17 season. He was traded to Dallas in July 2017, played two games for the Mavericks, and was waived in February 2018.
Across eleven seasons: approximately 450 NBA games, career averages of 5.4 points, 4.0 rebounds, and 2.2 assists. Roughly $30 million in career earnings. He was part of the blockbuster trade that sent Dwight Howard from Orlando to the Lakers in 2012, and he was traded to his hometown Indiana Pacers on draft night 2008 — the closest he ever got to fulfilling his childhood dream of playing basketball at home.
Where Is He Now
Josh McRoberts came home. During the 2011 NBA lockout, when his brother Zach was a sophomore on the Carmel basketball team, head coach Scott Heady let Josh hang around the program and help out for a month. McRoberts loved it. ‘I’ve never been in a coaching position, so I’m learning as I go,’ he said. ‘I’ve been having a great time.’
In the 2020–21 season, during the COVID-19 pandemic, McRoberts officially joined the Carmel High School varsity basketball staff as an assistant coach under Ryan Osborn. He moved back to Carmel to be near his family and reestablish himself. ‘Having been part of a team for as long as I had, I felt the absence of that kind of inclusion and purpose,’ he said. ‘The help from my coaches in high school and having a support system that included my family and the Carmel community as a whole was a big thing for me.’
He was inducted into the Hamilton County Basketball Hall of Fame. He is 38 years old. His picture still hangs on the wall outside the Carmel gym. He watches junior high kids chase the same dream he once chased on the same court.
Josh McRoberts’s Brotherhood story is the cautionary tale of the Between Era — and the most honest about what happens when the hype doesn’t match the outcome. He was the No. 1 power forward in America, the McDonald’s All-American Game MVP, the player Coach K compared to Grant Hill. He arrived at Duke as the headliner of the most disappointing class in program history. He had back surgery before his sophomore year, made the first five-category stat line in Duke history, and then watched Eric Maynor’s jumper end his college career with 1.8 seconds left. His draft stock fell from the lottery to the 37th pick. He spent eleven NBA seasons on seven teams, earning the respect of teammates like Gasol (‘scrappy and a hustler’) but never the stardom his high school ranking promised.
And then he went home. Back to Carmel. Back to the court where his biggest dream was simply to play. He’s coaching the next generation of Greyhounds in the gym named after his mentor, Eric Clark. The kid whose knees were jammed into J.J. Redick’s Toyota Corolla is teaching high schoolers how to set screens and make the extra pass. His career gave him perspective, he said. Everything after Carmel was a bonus. And the bonus, eventually, brought him back to where he started.
Duke’s Brotherhood: Where Are They Now? • Profile • March 2026