BEAVERTON, Ore. — It was just 22 games into his professional career when RJ Barrett got his first taste of the business of basketball, seeing the Knicks undergo a coaching change. It could have served as a reminder of where he came from that the practices the last two days were conducted at Coach K gym on the Nike campus.
The gym, named for Barrett’s college coach, Mike Krzyzewski, who has headed up the program at Duke University for 40 years, was a reminder of the permanence of that program and the fleeting nature of coaching tenures in the NBA.