Christopher Theoret Duarte (born June 13, 1997) is a Dominican professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for the Indiana Pacers of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the Northwest Florida State Raiders and the

Oregon Ducks The Oregon Ducks are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Oregon, located in Eugene. The Ducks compete at the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I level as a member of the Pac-12 Conference. ...

. At Northwest Florida State, he was named NABC NJCAA Player of the Year in 2019. At Oregon, he received the 2021

Jerry West Award The Jerry West Shooting Guard of the Year Award is an annual basketball award given by the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame to the top men's collegiate shooting guard. The award is named after former Los Angeles Lakers shooting guard, ...

as the nation's top collegiate shooting guard. He was selected 13th overall by the Indiana Pacers in the

2021 NBA Draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA u ...

. Duarte was selected to NBA All-Rookie Second Team honors.

Early life and high school career

Duarte was born and raised in

Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic Puerto Plata, officially known as San Felipe de Puerto Plata, is the third-largest city in the Dominican Republic, and capital of the province of Puerto Plata. The city is a trading port. Puerto Plata has resorts such as Playa Dorada and Costa Do ...

. His father was Canadian & died when Duarte was six months old. He shared a love of basketball with his older brother Jean Michel. He moved to New York to play his final two years of high school basketball at Redemption Christian Academy in

Troy Troy ( el, Τροία and Latin: Troia, Hittite: 𒋫𒊒𒄿𒊭 ''Truwiša'') or Ilion ( el, Ίλιον and Latin: Ilium, Hittite: 𒃾𒇻𒊭 ''Wiluša'') was an ancient city located at Hisarlik in present-day Turkey, south-west of Ç ...

. He participated in the 2017 Jordan Brand Classic Regional Game. Ranked the fifth-best player in New York by

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on college recruiting, athletic recruitment in college football and college basketball, basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount Global, Paramount. The website hosts a larg ...

, Duarte originally committed to play

for

Western Kentucky Western Kentucky is the western portion of the U.S. state of Kentucky. It generally includes part or all of several more widely recognized regions of the state. ;Always included * The Jackson Purchase, the state's westernmost generally recogniz ...

but instead started his career at

Northwest Florida State College Northwest Florida State College is a public college in Niceville, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System and is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools to award associate and baccalaureate degrees. Northwest Fl ...

College career

Northwest Florida State (2017–2019)

In his freshman season for

, Duarte averaged 12.1 points, 6.7 rebounds and two steals in 23.3 minutes per game, earning first-team All-

Panhandle Conference The Panhandle Conference is a conference within the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region 8. The conference consists of four state colleges and one community college located in Florida. Members Member institutions are Chipo ...

honors and helping his team reach the Elite Eight round of the NJCAA Division I Championship. On September 20, 2018, he announced that he would continue his career at

NCAA Division I NCAA Division I (D-I) is the highest level of intercollegiate athletics sanctioned by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) in the United States, which accepts players globally. D-I schools include the major collegiate athletic ...

program

Oregon Oregon () is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the Western United States. The Columbia River delineates much of Oregon's northern boundary with Washington, while the Snake River delineates much of its eastern boundary with Idaho. T ...

after one more season at Northwest Florida State. As a sophomore, Duarte averaged 19 points, 7.1 rebounds and 2.5 assists per game, helping his team return to the Elite Eight round of the NJCAA Division I Tournament. He scored 32 points on 11-of-13 shooting against

Palm Beach State College Palm Beach State College is a public college in Lake Worth, Florida. It is part of the Florida College System. Palm Beach State College enrolls nearly 27,000 students in over 100 programs of study including bachelor of applied science, associa ...

. He was recognized as NABC NJCAA Player of the Year and was a first-team NJCAA Division I All-American. Duarte was also named Panhandle Player of the Year by both the media and coaches vote.

Oregon (2019–2021)

Duarte made his debut for

on November 5, 2019, against

Fresno State California State University, Fresno (Fresno State) is a public university in Fresno, California. It is one of 23 campuses in the California State University system. The university had a fall 2020 enrollment of 25,341 students. It offers bachelo ...

, finishing with 16 points in a 71–57 win. On December 29, Duarte scored a junior season-high 31 points, shooting 12-of-15 from the field and 6-of-9 from three-point range, to go with six assists and five rebounds in a 98–59 win over Alabama State. One day later, he was named Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week. On January 23, 2020, Duarte recorded 30 points, 11 rebounds and eight steals in a 79–70 victory over USC. He set the

Matthew Knight Arena The Matthew Knight Arena (MKA) is a 12,364-seat, multi-purpose arena in Eugene, Oregon, United States. It is home of the University of Oregon Ducks basketball teams, replacing McArthur Court. It is located on the east side of campus at the cor ...

record for single-game steals and became the first Division I player with at least 30 points, 11 rebounds and eight steals since Niagara's Alvin Young in 1999. Duarte was subsequently named Pac-12 Player of the Week for his second time and United States Basketball Writers Association (USBWA) National Player of the Week. He finished the season averaging 12.9 points, 5.6 rebounds and 1.7 steals per game, collecting both All-Pac-12 honorable mention and Pac-12 All-Defensive honorable mention. During the 2020–21 season, Duarte led the Ducks to an appearance in the Sweet Sixteen of the NCAA Division I men's basketball tournament. On April 3, 2021, Duarte was named recipient of the 2021

as the top shooting guard in men's collegiate basketball. Duarte was additionally recognized as the AP Pac-12 Player of the Year and an AP Third Team All-American. On March 29, 2021, Oregon head coach

Dana Altman Dana Dean Altman (born June 16, 1958) is an American college basketball coach who is the head coach of the Oregon Ducks men's team. Previously he was head coach at Creighton, Kansas State and Marshall. Altman has won conference coach of the y ...

indicated in a press conference that Duarte would enter the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA u ...

Professional career

Indiana Pacers (2021–present)

Duarte was selected with the 13th pick in the

by the Indiana Pacers. On August 4, 2021, he signed a rookie scale contract with the Pacers. On October 20, Duarte made his NBA debut, recording 27 points on 6–9 three point shooting, five rebounds along with a steal to set the Pacers' franchise record for the most points in a rookie debut, in a 123–122 loss to the Charlotte Hornets. Duarte participated in the NBA's 2022 Rising Stars Challenge alongside teammate

Tyrese Haliburton Tyrese John Haliburton (born February 29, 2000) is an American professional basketball player for the Indiana Pacers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Iowa State Cyclones and was drafted by the ...

. On April 4, 2022, he was ruled out for the remainder of the season with a toe injury. Duarte was selected to the 2022

NBA All-Rookie The NBA All-Rookie Team is an annual National Basketball Association (NBA) honor given since the 1962–63 NBA season to the top rookies during the regular season. Voting is conducted by the NBA head coaches who are not allowed to vote for player ...

Second Team.

Career statistics

NBA

, - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

, 55 , , 39 , , 28.0 , , .432 , , .369 , , .804 , , 4.1 , , 2.1 , , 1.0 , , .2 , , 13.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", , style="text-align:left;",

, 46 , , 12 , , 19.5 , , .369 , , .316 , , .847 , , 2.5 , , 1.4 , , .5 , , .2 , , 7.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 101 , , 51 , , 24.1 , , .410 , , .347 , , .821 , , 3.4 , , 1.8 , , .8 , , .2 , , 10.7

College

NCAA Division I

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 28 , , 28 , , 30.1 , , .414 , , .336 , , .795 , , 5.6 , , 1.6 , , 1.7 , , .5 , , 12.9 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 26 , , 26 , , 34.1 , , .532 , , .424 , , .810 , , 4.6 , , 2.7 , , 1.9 , , .8 , , 17.1 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 54 , , 54 , , 32.0 , , .473 , , .380 , , .803 , , 5.1 , , 2.1 , , 1.8 , , .7 , , 14.9

JUCO

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2017–18 , style="text-align:left;", Northwest Florida State , 32 , , 1 , , 23.3 , , .546 , , .367 , , .700 , , 6.7 , , 1.8 , , 2.0 , , .4 , , 12.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;", Northwest Florida State , 33 , , 33 , , 31.1 , , .541 , , .400 , , .808 , , 7.1 , , 2.5 , , 1.2 , , 1.1 , , 19.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 65 , , 34 , , 27.2 , , .543 , , .388 , , .765 , , 6.9 , , 2.2 , , 1.6 , , .7 , , 15.6

References

External links

Oregon Ducks bio

Northwest Florida State Raiders bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Duarte, Chris 1997 births Living people All-American college men's basketball players Dominican Republic basketball players Dominican Republic expatriate basketball people in the United States Dominican Republic men's basketball players Fort Wayne Mad Ants players Indiana Pacers draft picks Indiana Pacers players Mixed-race Dominicans National Basketball Association players from the Dominican Republic Northwest Florida State Raiders men's basketball players Oregon Ducks men's basketball players People from Puerto Plata, Dominican Republic Shooting guards