Road to Duke
When people who grew up playing basketball in Los Angeles in the early 1990s talk about the best hoopers to come out of the area, one name always surfaces: Ricky Price. Not sometimes. Always. The Not In My House podcast called him ‘without question one of the greatest high school basketball players to ever come out of the Los Angeles area.’ His mid-range game was automatic. At 6-foot-6, with explosive athleticism and a scorer’s instinct, he was the complete package.
Price was born February 4, 1976, in Carson, California — a working-class city in the South Bay, fifteen miles south of downtown LA. At Carson High School, he averaged 28 points and 11 rebounds and was unanimously named a USA Today/AP/Parade Top 5 player nationally. Gold medal representing the U.S. in the Junior Olympics in Argentina. And at the 1994 McDonald’s All-American Game, he won the slam dunk contest — the first Duke player ever to do so, a lineage that would later include Gerald Henderson (2006), Grayson Allen (2014), and Zion Williamson (2018). At that same McDonald’s Game, he played alongside future Duke teammate Trajan Langdon and against future Duke teammate Steve Wojciechowski.
His recruitment came down to Duke and Kansas. Roy Williams was his first choice for a while. But as Price spent more time with Coach K, the decision clarified. When he broke the news to Williams, something remarkable happened: the relationship didn’t end. ‘It’s amazing because, of course, I hate Carolina,’ Price said. ‘I think if you’re a Duke guy, naturally, that’s embedded in your DNA. But I love Roy Williams. He’s one of the few honest guys in the game. We still talk frequently. After every Duke-Carolina game, I always make it a point to go see him and say hello. He still asks about my mom. Here we are 20 years later and he’s still asking about my mom and dad. That just shows you the character of the type of guy he is.’
At Duke
What happened to Ricky Price at Duke cannot be separated from what happened to Duke in 1994–95. He arrived as one of three prized freshmen — Price, Langdon, and Wojciechowski — joining a program expected to contend. Price had never had consistent coaching in high school, and Duke was supposed to change that. Instead, it got worse.
Coach K had undergone back surgery and rushed back. Twelve games in, with Duke 9–3, the pain became unbearable. Krzyzewski left on medical leave. Pete Gaudet, making just over $300 a week as the ‘restricted earnings’ coach, took over. Duke went 4–15 under Gaudet, finishing 13–18 and 2–14 in the ACC — dead last. Tommy Amaker, who had helped build the program as a player a decade earlier, saw the confidence draining: ‘Once we lost a few games, we lost our confidence. That’s where these guys miss Coach K.’
For Price, 3,000 miles from home: ‘It was very difficult as a freshman. You are still trying to find your way. As a freshman you want to lean on your head coach.’ He didn’t have that opportunity. ‘It was embarrassing. You don’t want to be part of a team that goes down as one of the worst in recent memory. It was a very difficult year and shows how important leadership is.’
But from that disaster, Price took a lesson that shaped the rest of his life. When Krzyzewski returned for 1995–96, the coach was different. ‘Prior to going out he did everything,’ Price recalled. ‘He was taking on too much of a burden. Post back surgery he trusted other guys to do other things. He let other guys step up and do their part.’ The principle of delegation — that leadership means trusting others — became the foundation of Price’s speaking career decades later.
With Krzyzewski back, Price’s sophomore season was his best at Duke: 14.2 ppg, career-high 28 against Virginia, a buzzer-beater to beat Maryland that Duke Basketball Report later credited with putting Duke back in the NCAAs. Third-Team All-ACC. He reached 1,000 career points. Duke won the ACC regular-season title — ‘only five short years after Ricky Price put Duke in the NCAAs.’
As a junior, a broken finger wrecked his jump shot. For a player whose mid-range game was his signature, the injury was devastating. He slumped to just over 9 ppg. Then senior year: academic probation after submitting a paper that wasn’t his. Suspended for the first semester, lost his starting role. His own accountability advice years later: ‘Take accountability for what you did, correct it, apologize to the people you need to apologize to, and then you’ve got to do some self-improvement and make sure that never happens again.’ He didn’t quit. He came back, played off the bench, helped Duke win its second straight ACC regular-season title. He graduated with a degree in sociology.
After Duke
Price went undrafted in 1998. Not long after, he was playing 5,000 miles from the NBA — in Slovenia. Also the Netherlands, Germany, France, Finland, Asia. NBA preseason stints with the Miami Heat, Detroit Pistons, Orlando Magic, and Charlotte Bobcats — close enough to taste it, never close enough to stay. For about a decade, he saw different arenas across Europe and Asia and played in American pro leagues like the IBL and the CBA.
As a player, he was known for his above-the-rim game. But of all his accomplishments, he has said that learning to become a solid defensive player was his biggest achievement — the thing that kept him employed for a decade overseas when the dunk contest highlights faded. After retiring, he worked as VP of Operations for Worldwide Hoops Sports Marketing (representing overseas and NBA players) and as a Raycom Sports correspondent covering ACC basketball.
Where Is He Now
In 2010, Price founded Game Ready Skills and Development LLC in North Carolina. His first summer camp in Charlotte drew 150 kids. Former Duke players Ryan Kelly, Seth Curry, Rodney Hood, Andre Dawkins, and Tyler Thornton have appeared. But Price’s focus is development, not exposure: ‘My focus is 100% skills development. My job is to get them ready to get to that level. Unfortunately, a lot of our kids don’t have the necessary essentials, the basics, the fundamentals on how to play the game. How to pivot off your left and right foot, how to pump fake and one dribble, how to shoot a one dribble pull up. You’d be amazed how many kids can’t do that.’
He commands thousands of dollars per speaking engagement, drawing parallels between basketball teamwork and corporate environments, leaning heavily on the lessons from that devastating freshman year. His book, Celebrate Your Wins, has a foreword by Coach K. He still volunteers coaching middle schoolers — spending back-to-back five-hour Sunday sessions with varsity and JV players at schools that might otherwise get overlooked.
Ricky Price’s story is the most candid in the Transition Era. The five-star recruit from the LA basketball machine. First Duke player to win the McDonald’s dunk contest. Chose Duke over Kansas and kept Roy Williams’ friendship for life. Arrived at Duke and immediately endured the worst season in Krzyzewski history. Peaked as a sophomore, lost his jumper to a broken finger, lost his starting job to academic probation, and never quit. Played ten years on three continents. Turned the worst season of his life into the foundation of a speaking career.
Duke Basketball Report observed: ‘If he had the choice to do things over again, he’d still choose Duke.’ That’s the line that matters. Not the dunk contest trophy. Not the All-ACC season. Not the broken finger or the probation. The choice. He’d make it again.