Kyrie Irving will get his chance to take on North Carolina on the hardwood this season—just not as a current member of the Duke men’s basketball team.
On Nov. 17, Irving, and a number of other former Duke players, will take on a star-studded lineup of Tar Heel basketball alumni in the Kings of Tobacco Road exhibition at 8:30 p.m.
“It transpired pretty quickly,” said Rob Blair, CEO and founder of Bleid Sports, which collaborated with S.J.G. Greater N.C. Sports, Inc., to put together the game. “With Duke and UNC in the Mecca of college basketball, it just made sense.”
N.C. Central has tentatively agreed to host the game at MacDougald Gym, Blair said, but no official contract had been signed.
Both lineups are also still in flux, Blair said, but Elton Brand, Gerald Henderson, Nolan Smith, Corey Maggette, Chris Duhon and J.J. Redick will play for Duke. Former Tar Heel Jerry Stackhouse, co-founder of S.J.G. Greater N.C. Sports, Inc., will be joined by Vince Carter, Antawn Jamison, Rasheed Wallace, Raymond Felton, Brendan Haywood and Donald and Shammond Williams on a team coached by Phil Ford.
“[Bleid Sports has] put together many other showcases,” Blair said. “But one with four NBA starters and ten NBA players? No.”
S.J.G. Greater N.C. Sports, Inc., organizes the yearly North Carolina Pro Am, a summer league in which almost 20 total Blue Devils from both the men’s and women’s teams participated last year. It will also combine with Bleid Sports for the Clash in Cameron on Dec. 17, a high school basketball showcase featuring Jabari Parker, a Duke recruit in the class of 2013.
Although the exhibition was rumored to be held in Cameron Indoor Stadium, Duke sports information wrote in an email Monday night that “Duke has nothing to do with any aspect of this game,” and declined further comment.
The Kings of Tobacco Road game comes on the heels of last month’s Big Blue All-Stars vs. Villains exhibition at Kentucky’s Rupp Arena, in which Smith played for a Villains team coached by former Duke great Christian Laettner. Exhibition games have emerged all over the country as NBA players wait for a new labor agreement to be reached with the league.
Correction: Jay Williams tweeted that he will not be coaching the Duke team at the Kings of Tobacco Road game, contradicting what Rob Blair, CEO of Bleid Sports, told The Chronicle last night. The Chronicle regrets the error.
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