“I think most of it comes from Duke…. 99 percent of it was just immaturity and me being a kid in a man’s sport and a man’s position and just wasn’t ready to handle it,” said Grayson Allen back in 2023, addressing his ‘dirty’ player reputation. From reportedly getting into a scrum with Trae Young during Summer League to fouling Alex Caruso on a layup attempt, which caused a fracture in his right arm, the player has not created the best standing for himself. Now, that reputation is hurting the Duke Blue Devils, too.

On Wednesday, the Boston Celtics faced off against the Phoenix Suns. With just one win away from surpassing the 9th-seeded Sacramento Kings, the squad put out a tough fight. At one point, Derrick White fouled on Allen while he was attempting to make a shot. But the criticism from the ones calling the game? The Suns guard.

“Grayson Allen, following that mould of Duke players that you just love to hate. All those questionable players, with dirty plays or not, and came in the league.” The other commentator added, “They were dirty plays.” Yikes!

There is no denying that Grayson Allen’s reputation as a dirty player began right in his Duke days. The foundation for the same was laid back in February 2016, when Allen, as reported, purposefully tripped Louisville’s Ray Spalding. Around 2 and a half weeks later, he repeated that action against then-Florida State’s Xavier Rathan-Mayes. In December 2016, Allen was suspended indefinitely by Duke after the guard intentionally stuck out his leg and tripped Elon player Steven Santa Ana.

While he later apologized for the incident, it wouldn’t be the last on-court action that the player would get criticized over. If it wasn’t a trip, then it was a random hip check on a fast break that resulted in him being given a Flagrant 1 foul.

Therefore, before Grayson Allen was even picked as the 21st overall pick by the Utah Jazz in the 2018 NBA draft, he had created a reputation for being someone who does not always abide by the rules. The same has now come back to haunt him, as not just Allen, but other Duke players are getting the blame too. The Blue Devils currently do not carry the same reputation of possessing ‘dirty’ players as it did earlier. However, even before Grayson Allen, there were some players known for their unfair tactics.

No one could headline this segment better than Christian Laettner. ‘The Stomp’ still remains one of the controversial plays in the NCAA when the Blue Devil star had stomped on the chest of Kentucky’s Aminu Timberlake. It had only earned him a technical foul and the hardest part for a Kentucky fan? His buzzer-beater helped Duke defeat the Wildcats in the 1992 Elite Eight. Kind of like Will Smith receiving his Oscar about an hour after slapping Chris Rock.

JJ Redick himself wasn’t a saint. He once talked trash with Ravens owner Steve Bisciotti, waved to the crowd at Florida State after a buzzer-beater in Tallahassee, and even gave a pointed three-finger display during a game at North Carolina. Duke certainly has a slight dark history, and commentators are not afraid to put it on display if they want to.

The fact that the Celtics commentators chose to comment on this was a stab. After all, the team’s star player himself went to Duke, and recently had nothing but praise to give to his former team.

Jayson Tatum donned Duke T-Shirt days after sending Jordan Brand shoes to female athletes

Jayson Tatum did not play in the recent Boston Celtics-Phoenix Suns matchup. While the player was at the Celtics’ shootaround earlier Wednesday, his left sprained ankle prevented him from participating in the matchup. With the Boston Celtics currently the 2nd seed on the Eastern Conference table, Tatum could have afforded to take a full break. However, even if he could not play, the athlete was still at the Footprint Center to watch it. If it was his intention for his outfit to gain traction and be discussed online, then he was successful.

Jayson Tatum arrived at the Footprint Center whilst wearing a Duke x OVO college basketball T-Shirt. The same is a part of the merchandise formed after ‘October’s Very Own’ brand partnered with 6 different collegiate teams, including Duke, for a limited-edition collection that reportedly “honored the tradition, excellence, and competitive legacy of college basketball.” College basketball reporter Zion O. highlighted this on X, and wrote “Jayson Tatum always reppin”.

The Boston Celtics star has been closely following the March Madness tournament. After all, as he himself said once, “It’s a brotherhood. Anyone who’s ever played for the program, whether they are 10 years younger than me or 10 years older, it’s always love.” The same level of respect also extends to the Duke’s women’s basketball division. It was seen a few days ago, when Blue Devils coach Kara Lawson announced to her players that “I admired him. He admires you guys too. He sent you some of his shoes.” The Royal Blue Sneakers, aka the Jordan Tatum 3s in the “Blueprint” colorway, will surely motivate the players enough as they prepare to go up against North Carolina.

Jayson Tatum donning the Duke jersey was not enough to stop the commentators from handing down the critique. Well, Cooper Flagg and the Duke squad can always get back at them by defeating the Arizona Wildcats and reaching the Elite Eight for the 3rd time in the last 5 years.