Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum is a Duke alum and has a strong appreciation for his alma mater’s history. There’s so much history that he appeared to struggle mightily in creating a top five.
Taking to Twitter on Friday, Tatum tried his hand at naming the top five players in Duke history. But he called an audible in the middle of the tweet and listed off eight candidates instead.
Tatum named Grant Hill, Christian Laettner, JJ Reddick, Jay Williams, Shane Battier, Jabari Parker, Zion Williamson and Jahlil Okafor as the candidates for his top five.
“Top 5 all time @DukeMBB players (strictly on time at duke)… 8 names I think could argue to be in that 5… G hill, Laetnner, jj, jay will, battier, Jah, bari, Zion,” Tatum wrote.
Glossing over the fact that Jayson Tatum might not fully grasp the concept of a top five, it’s a pretty strong list.
That isn’t to say that there’s universal agreement even on the eight people Tatum tried to narrow down. Many fans are outraged that the list didn’t include other Duke star like Elton Brand, Bobby Hurley, RJ Barrett, Johnny Dawkins and Danny Ferry among others.
But that may just be a testament to how great Duke has been through the years that there are too many great stars to create a simple top five list on.
Who would you put on a Duke top five list?