Although he was not drafted Thursday night, former Duke center Marshall Plumlee will still get his shot to join his older brothers in the NBA.
Plumlee signed a guaranteed free-agent contract with the New York Knicks, Yahoo Sports' Shams Charania reported Friday afternoon.
Duke's Marshall Plumlee has agreed to a guaranteed undrafted free-agent deal with the New York Knicks, league sources tell The Vertical.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 24, 2016
The 7-footer joins older brothers Miles—a first-round pick in 2012 by the Indiana Pacers who now plays for the Milwaukee Bucks—and Mason, who was taken by the Brooklyn Nets in the draft's first round in 2013 and now plays for the Portland Trail Blazers, in the NBA after a five-year stay in Durham.
The Plumlee brothers are the fifth group of at least three brothers ever to make it to the NBA—including the quartet of Caldwell, Charles, Major and Wil Jones. Luke, Cody, and Tyler Zeller have all played in the NBA in this decade, but Luke finished his brief career before Cody started, so the Plumlees could become the first trio to all play in the league at the same time since Jon, Brent and Drew Barry from 1997 to 2000.
After redshirting in 2011-12, Marshall Plumlee struggled to crack Duke's rotation before his final season in 2015-16. The Warsaw, Ind., native averaged fewer than 10 minutes per game in his first three seasons of action, though he had big moments off the bench for Duke's 2015 national championship team backing up All-American Jahlil Okafor.
Plumlee made a big jump as a redshirt senior, averaging 8.3 points and 8.6 rebounds per game in 30.5 minutes per contest. He was also the Blue Devils' vocal leader and anchor defensively after forward Amile Jefferson suffered a season-ending foot injury in December 2015.
Although Plumlee has a chance to make a professional basketball career work, he has other options in the future after completing his ROTC contracting ceremony in January 2015 and spending last summer going through Army officer training.
He will likely play with New York's summer league team in Orlando later this summer.
Correction: An earlier version of this post incorrectly stated that the Plumlees are the second trio of brothers ever to make it to the NBA. They are the fifth.
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