Hardwood Paroxysm with an interesting find: Many Duke players and Coach K have all had very strange circumstances surrounding NBA deals in the last 20 years. We narrowed it down to five players with weird NBA deals:

Danny Ferry – Drafted 2nd overall in 1989, and decided he’d rather play overseas than for the Clippers. Played in Italy for a year, and his rights were traded to Cleveland … where he was a colossal bust.
Grant Hill – Has a terrific run in Detroit, but then mysteriously bolts for Orlando. Signs a 6-year deal with the Magic, but is injured from virtually Day 1, and then says he’s had enough, he’ll probably retire. Nope – he returned with the Suns.
Jason Williams – No. 2 pick in the draft has a decent rookie season, then got into a motorcycle accident and nearly died. The Bulls, though not obligated to pay him anything because he violated his contract, gave him a $3 million buyout.
Carlos Boozer – After two promising seasons in Cleveland, the Cavs foolishly let him opt out of his contract, trusting they’d worked out a deal with him. Instantly, his agent got a call from the Jazz, who threw $70 million at him, and Boozer headed West.
Mike Krzyzewski – In 2001, Coach K signed a lifetime contract to coach at Duke… and then three years later danced with the Lakers, who were offering $40 million after Phil Jackson left the building. If you signed a lifetime deal, how are you even negotiating with the Lakers?
Elton Brand – Depending on whom you believe, the Clippers either low-balled him, or his losery agent wanted a bit more money for him (though not that much more; the Warriors were offering more than the 76ers.)

Is this a Duke thing? Or is it that Duke produces so many NBA players, these kerfuffles are bound to pop up? We didn’t include Mike Dunleavy’s sick $44 million contract because there’s no story … except that somebody gave Mike Dunleavy $44 million.