No basketball program in the country can match the future NBA talent on Duke’s roster right now, an easy statement to get behind with the Blue Devils’ 24-3 record.
Freshman sensation Cooper Flagg draws all the headlines as the presumed No. 1 overall pick in the draft and the projected favorite for the John R. Wooden Award as the nation’s best player, but the two freshmen starters beside him look like top-10 picks. Another five-star freshman has boosted his stock in a major way despite coming off the bench, and the longest-tenured Blue Devil on the roster has taken a step forward in his third year with the program.
Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman released a new NBA mock draft on Tuesday and predictably slotted Flagg in as the first player off the board, but four of his teammates joined him in the hypothetical two-round draft
Here’s a look at all five Blue Devils included in Wasserman’s latest mock draft.
Cooper Flagg (No. 1 overall, Washington Wizards)
2024-25 Stats: 19.5 points, 7.7 rebounds, 4.0 assists, 1.6 steals, 1.1 blocks, 48.6% FG, 37.3% 3PT
Flagg has only broken the 20-point barrier in one of Duke’s last six games, but the Blue Devils’ best player doesn’t need to drop 42 points to alter the game. He finished with 17 points and 14 rebounds against Virginia last week, and he’s tallied at least five assists in eight of the team’s last 15 games. He’s taken massive steps forward as a facilitator and a 3-point shooter since the holiday break, two wrinkles that put him in his own class as a prospect.
Khaman Maluach (No. 5 overall, Toronto Raptors)
2024-25 Stats: 8.2 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.1 blocks, 71.4% FG
A member of the South Sudanese Olympic team in France this summer, Maluach has become a larger feature in the Duke offense as the season went along. He showed up as one of the nation’s best rim defenders, but his teammates have looked more comfortable finding him in the pick-and-roll game as he gets more games under his belt.
Kon Knueppel (No. 9 overall, Portland Trail Blazers)
2024-25 Stats: 13.2 points, 3.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 0.9 steals, 45.2% FG, 38.3% 3PT
Knueppel may not have the production some fans expected ahead of the season when he was a popular pick to lead the roster in scoring, and the Wisconsin native averaged just 10.3 points over four games from February 5 through February 15. He dropped 17 against the Cavaliers and 15 against Illinois, however, and he’s one of the team’s most efficient shooters and ball-handlers (2.06 assist-to-turnover ratio).
Isaiah Evans (No. 23 overall, Brooklyn Nets)
2024-25 Stats: 7.0 points, 1.1 rebounds, 0.5 assists, 46.6% FG, 45.8% 3PT
Evans has only played 20 minutes in three games this season, but his stock started accelerating when he knocked down six 3-pointers in the first half against the Auburn Tigers in December. The freshman just put together his best two-game stretch of the year (17 points, three rebounds, and two blocks against Virginia and 17 points, two rebounds, and two assists against the Fighting Illini), and his 3-point efficiency on four attempts per game is hard to overstate.
Tyrese Proctor (No. 54 overall, Los Angeles Lakers)
2024-25 Stats: 12.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 2.3 assists, 0.7 steals, 43.8% FG, 40.9% 3PT
The only player who’s spent all three seasons with head coach Jon Scheyer, Proctor hasn’t felt like the same focal point as years past thanks to the lottery picks alongside him. The numbers don’t back up that sentiment, however, as he’s on pace for career highs in field goal attempts (9.6), 3-point attempts (5.7), field-goal percentage (43.8%), and 3-point percentage (40.9%) in his best Duke campaign yet.
