Chris Duarte

Christopher Theoret Duarte is the son of Ana Luisa and Leonardo Duarte. He was born in June of 1997 in Montreal, Canada but moved at a young age and spent most of his childhood in Puerto Plata of the Dominican Republic. The Duarte family then moved to New York state in 2015 so that Chris could play his last two years of high school basketball at Redemption Christian Academy in Troy. After his senior season at Redemption, Duarte was ranked the fifth best player in New York by 247Sports. For college ball, Duarte initially choose Northwest Florida State. As a freshman, Duarte earned All-Panhandle Conference honors. In the fall of 2018, Duarte announced he planned to play one more year for NFSC and then continue his college experience at the University of Oregon. Duarte averaged 19 points per game as sophomore for NFSC and was named the NABC NJCAA Player of the Year. He then transferred to Oregon and started 28 games for the Ducks in 2019-20. As a senior in 2020-21, Duarte averaged 17.1 points, 4.6 rebounds, 2.3 triples and 1.9 steals per game. He also led the Ducks to the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament. At the end of the season, Duarte won the 2021 Jerry West award as the best shooting guard in college basketball. He was also named AP Pac-12 Player of the Year. In March of 2021, Duarte declared himself eligible for the 2021 NBA Draft and was selected by the Indiana Pacers with the 13th pick of the draft. The Oregon product starts his NBA career as a 24-year-old rookie.