Duke Basketball

Duke's Zion Williamson announced his intention to enter the 2019 NBA draft Monday, where he will almost certainly be the top player off the board.

Williamson made the decision official via a post on his Instagram account.  

Williamson entered college as the third-ranked player in Duke's 2018 recruiting class behind RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish. He left as the unanimous top player in the country and one of the brightest stars in recent college basketball history.

Listed at 6'7" and 285 pounds, Williamson resembles an NFL defensive end more than a traditional basketball player.

When Williamson steps on the floor, it becomes even more apparent he's a once-in-a-generation athlete. He pulled off in-game dunks so captivating that NBA fans are already clamoring for him to enter next year's Slam Dunk Contest, and he isn't only a jaw-dropping athlete.

Williamson already has plus ball-handling for a big man, is a strong passer and uses his physical advantages to finish among the nation's best at the rim.

His game has drawn praise from across the basketball world, with Scottie Pippen calling him the best prospect since Michael Jordan and LeBron James attending his games just to catch a glimpse.

"He's unreal. We were talking about him the other day in our team room," Stephen Curry told reporters. "He has a lot of hype around him and he's unbelievably talented, but you can't teach, like, his passion and the way that ... he plays. He plays hard every possession, and that's an underrated skill that kids can ... emulate."

The biggest concern about Williamson is whether he can withstand the rigors of an 82-game season. He missed five games because of a sprained knee he suffered when he blew his shoe apart. The incident caused Nike's stock to drop the next day.

Williams looks like a can't-miss NBA prospect, but he does have some flaws. He's not a good or comfortable shooter from long range; he shot 33.8 percent from the college three-point line and was a 64 percent free-throw shooter. 

To reach his potential, Williams will have to put in the work like fellow athletic marvel Blake Griffin has over the years and craft his all-around game. Griffin's shot is still slow and hitchy, but he's made it work and turned himself into a good three-point shooter, thus extending his prime a few extra years.

Williamson is going to be a good NBA player no matter what, but he has the ceiling of a top-10 player in the league. It'll be critical for him to wind up with the right situation and coaching staff.

Duke Blue Devils star Cam Reddish is entering the 2019 NBA draft pool, he announced Thursday on Instagram.

"This season was epic, and I am so thankful to have had Duke as a part of the foundation that prepared me to play at the next level," he wrote. "Never forget – I am a Blue Devil for life. Proud to announce that I will be entering the 2019 NBA Draft."

Duke also released a short video with Reddish about his announcement on Twitter:

Reddish joined Duke with lofty expectations. He was the No. 1 small forward and No. 2 player overall in the 2018 recruiting class, per 247Sports' composite rankings. He joined RJ Barrett and Zion Williamson, who were the No. 1 and No. 5 players overall, respectively, and Tre Jones, who was No. 15.

Playing alongside Barrett and Williamson proved to be somewhat counterproductive for Reddish, though. Barrett solidified himself as a likely top-five pick, while Williamson was a walking highlight reel and the clear No. 1 player in the 2019 draft class.

Reddish was effectively the third scoring option for Duke, a far cry from the role he became accustomed to in high school and on the AAU circuit. Not surprisingly, his numbers suffered as a result.

In 36 appearances, he averaged 13.5 points, 3.7 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 1.6 steals. He also shot 35.6 percent from the field and 33.3 percent on three-pointers. He was often reduced to spotting up from beyond the arc, finishing with a 61.8 percent three-point attempt rate, per Sports Reference.

The Ringer's Jonathan Tjarks argued in December that Reddish's situation actually leaves him well suited for the jump to the NBA. Reddish is likely to have an off-ball role early in his pro career, so he won't have to make much of an adjustment.

Tjarks also highlighted the 6'8", 218-pounder's defensive potential:

"He has been a key cog on an elite defense as a freshman, benefiting from the ball pressure of Jones and Barrett to rack up a team-high steal rate of 4.7 percent. He uses his size to jump passing lanes and close gaps on the perimeter far quicker than opponents suspect. Most players as big as Reddish aren’t nearly as comfortable defending on the perimeter. His agility makes it easy to forget just how big he is. He has the size of many NCAA centers and he can comfortably switch onto point guards."

Reddish could've returned to Duke in the hope of establishing himself as the consensus No. 1 player in the 2020 draft. With Barrett having already declared and Williamson likely to follow suit, he'd become the go-to scorer in Durham.

The Pennsylvania native had little to gain in terms of his draft stock by taking that approach, though. He's likely to be a top-10 pick this summer and could move into the top five. Aside from the money, being the No. 1 selection isn't all that tangibly different from going a few picks later.

Getting to the NBA now rather than a year from now should start Reddish's development earlier. Although his game obviously has room for improvement, he should be able to hold his own against the level of competition he'll face at the next level.

To the surprise of no one, Duke Blue Devils star RJ Barrett declared his eligibility for the 2019 NBA draft Wednesday:

Barrett, 18, is expected to be a top-five pick in this year's draft. He has long been considered one of the top prospects in the class of 2019, alongside Duke teammates Zion Williamson and Cam Reddish and Murray State guard Ja Morant.

In February, Sam Vecenie of The Athletic spoke to several college basketball assistants about Barrett.

One coach said: "I like him. I like his alpha mentality. And I think he'll become really good. But the thing that scares me about the NBA is that alpha mentality. I'll be very interested to see how that fits in with the team that drafts him."

Another coach added: "Scorer's mentality. He had no interest in guarding. He had an interest in gambling and going for steals. He's very left-hand dominant. In my scout, I thought Reddish had a higher ceiling."

One of the coaches noted that Barrett's ideal position in the NBA would be "tall point," doubting whether he would ever develop into a great shooter. Most agreed that he was excellent off the dribble and attacking the basket.

Barrett definitely gets buckets. The true freshman scored 22.6 points per game, adding 7.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists per contest. He shot 45.4 percent from the field and 30.8 from three, and he has the offensive game to be a star at the next level.

He helped lead Duke to the Elite Eight, where the Blue Devils suffered a disappointing loss to Michigan State.

His upside will be determined by the progression of his jump shot and willingness to play defense. If he becomes a consistent three-point shooter and a shutdown defender, his potential is limitless. Even if he doesn't, he should still be an excellent offensive player.

But Barrett has the ability to be much more, and he will be drafted based on that possible outcome.

While the Duke Blue Devils are most likely about to lose freshman forward Zion Williamson to the 2019 NBA draft, another freshman has decided to stick around and learn more under head coach Mike Krzyzewski.

The program announced on Monday afternoon that guard Tre Jones will return for his sophomore season.

Across 36 games in 2018-19, Jones averaged 9.4 points, 5.3 assists and 3.8 rebounds. His best offering came in Duke's Sweet Sixteen win over Virginia Tech in which he scored a season-high 22 points along with eight assists.

No. 1 Duke saw its season end in the Elite Eight to No. 2 Michigan State on March 31.

Jones hinted at his decision to return on Saturday night with an Instagram photo of himself shrugging, captioning it, "Year 2?" His older brother, Tyus, commented, "Write Your Own Story!" 

The older Jones declared for the NBA draft following his 2014-15 freshman season with Duke, in which the Blue Devils won the national championship and he was named to the NCAA All-Tournament team. He was then taken No. 24 overall by Cleveland, who promptly traded him to the Minnesota Timberwolves. 

The 22-year-old point guard has spent all of his four seasons in Minnesota, starting 32 of 245 games.

The younger Jones has opted to develop his game further in college to perhaps go higher than his brother did and engineer himself into an NBA starter.

In a mock draft posted on March 21, CBS Sports' Reid Forgrave projected Jones would be taken at No. 17 overall by the Detroit Pistons. His valuation, in part: 

"This is high for Jones. But one NBA executive told me he could see Jones going higher than expected in a draft that's short on point guards. He's not the shooter that his older brother, Tyus, is—his 24.7 percent 3-point shooting is alarming—but he's an elite defender, perhaps the best perimeter defender in college basketball. 

"He's got all the basketball intangibles and leadership skills of his brother. A team in need of a point guard like the Pistons could do far worse in this slot of a weak draft than nabbing a guy who at the very least is a solid backup point guard."  

With Williamson along with fellow freshmen Cam Reddish and RJ Barrett all expected to leave for the NBA, Jones would become a much more prominent player and star for the 2019-2020 Blue Devils.  

Zion Williamson missed five-plus games due to a knee injury this college basketball season.

That still wasn't enough for anyone to catch him in the men's race for Naismith College Player of the Year. The Atlanta Tipoff Club named Williamson the recipient of the 2019 honor Sunday. He won the award over Murray State's Ja Morant, Tennessee's Grant Williams and Gonzaga's Rui Hachimura.

Williamson is the eighth Duke player to take home POTY honors and first since J.J. Redick in 2006. He's the third freshman to ever take home an award regularly given to upperclassmen, joining Kevin Durant (2007) and Anthony Davis (2012).

Like Durant and Davis before him, Williamson needed a spectacular freshman season to trump the work of a strong upperclassmen crew. And perhaps more than any other freshman before him, Williamson captivated in such a degree that this award was a no-brainer—even after a knee injury cost him a chunk of time.

Williamson will go down as one of the most exciting players in college basketball history. He averaged 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks a night, numbers more than well-rounded enough to earn him the honors on that alone.

But it was the way Williamson played that put the country in a perpetual state of slack jaw. Listed at 6'7" and 285 pounds, Williamson dominated with his sheer power and his LeBronian athleticism. He was a nightly highlight film, to the point people are already clamoring for him to be in next year's Slam Dunk Contest.

"He's unreal. We were talking about him the other day in our team room," Steph Curry told reporters. "He has a lot of hype around him and he's unbelievably talented, but you can't teach, like, his passion and the way that … he plays. He plays hard every possession and I think that's an underrated skill that kids can kind of emulate."

Of course, sometimes Zion is a little too powerful for his own good. His season nearly ended when his Nike shoe exploded in a game against North Carolina, causing his knee to buckle in an awkward direction. Zion missed most of the last six games of the season, a stretch in which the Blue Devils went 3-3.

Williamson returned to the lineup for the ACC tournament, leading the Blue Devils to a conference championship and securing the No. 1 overall seed for the NCAA tournament. He averaged 26.0 points, 8.5 rebounds, 1.8 assists, 1.8 blocks and 1.5 steals during Duke's run to the Elite Eight. Despite inconsistent play from his supporting cast, Williamson carried the Blue Devils to tourney wins until they ran into a veteran Michigan State team.

"He's got the most incredible first step," Michigan State coach Tom Izzo told reporters of Williamson. "That's why he's getting all those steals. He can take one dribble and cover more space than most human beings that I know can do. And so then he has the strength to finish at the end. So he's not Superman, but he's damn close."

Williamson said it's highly likely he'll enter his name into the 2019 NBA draft, and his on-court career at Duke didn't end the way he hoped. That said, going out as the best player in college basketball is not a bad consolation. 

Duke will look into allegations that basketball star Zion Williamson and his family received benefits to commit to the school.

Athletic director Kevin White provided a statement Saturday to Ben Leonard of the Duke Chronicle:

"We are aware of the allegation and, as we would with any compliance matter, are looking into it. Duke is fully committed to compliance with all NCAA rules and regulations. Every student athlete at Duke is reviewed to ensure their eligibility. With regard to men’s basketball: all recruits and their families are thoroughly vetted by Duke in collaboration with the NCAA through the Eligibility Center’s amateurism certification process."

This comes after lawyer Michael Avenatti accused Nike of giving Williamson's mother, Sharonda Sampson, money under the false pretense of payment for consultancy services:

Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski was asked about an initial tweet from Avenatti in March and responded, "There's nothing there," per Pete Thamel of Yahoo Sports.

Nike also disregarded the allegations in a statement:

Avenatti also alleged Saturday that he has proof that Nike gave illegal benefits to Deandre Ayton, Bol Bol and Brandon McCoy:

The lawyer was arrested in March on fraud charges unconnected to his relationship with Nike, but he was also charged with attempting to extort over $20 million from Nike. Convictions on all charges could lead to up to 97 years in prison.

Williamson recently completed his freshman year at Duke, finishing with averages of 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals per game. He was named ACC Player of the Year and the Associated Press National Player of the Year.

While he has three years of eligibility remaining, he is expected to declare for the NBA draft, where he will likely be the No. 1 overall pick.

Under Armour CEO Kevin Plank commented Friday on the company's pursuit of potential No. 1 overall 2019 NBA draft pick Zion Williamson.

According to Darren Rovell of The Action Network, Plank appeared on CNBC and said: "We have to be smart and thoughtful about how we play moneyball and how we deploy the dollars."

Williamson figures to be wooed by many of the top shoe and apparel companies after a dominant freshman season at Duke that is likely to culminate in a Naismith National College Player of the Year award.

In 33 games, Williamson shot 68.0 percent from the field and averaged 22.6 points, 8.9 rebounds, 2.1 assists, 2.1 steals and 1.8 blocks. Despite his remarkable level of play, the Blue Devils fell to the Michigan State Spartans in the Elite Eight of the NCAA tournament.

Aside from that loss, the one big negative in Williamson's season was the fact that he missed nearly a month after suffering a knee sprain during the first minute of a February loss to North Carolina.

The injury occurred when Williamson's Nike shoe exploded while he was making a cut:

Williamson eventually managed to return to the court and lead Duke to an ACC tournament title, but the circumstances of his injury led to speculation that Nike may have hurt its chances of landing an endorsement deal with him.

On Thursday's episode of ESPN's The Jump, Nick DePaula said there are currently seven brands in the running to bid on Williamson, and one company is willing to offer $10 million per year:

If Under Armour wants to land Williamson, it may not have the luxury of being "smart and thoughtful" with its money as Plank mentioned.

Under Armour has a growing stable of NBA players under its umbrella, led by Golden State Warriors guard Stephen Curry and Philadelphia 76ers center Joel Embiid.

If Under Armour can add Williamson to that group, it will have three of the NBA's biggest stars at its disposal provided Williamson lives up to the hype.

Duke star Zion Williamson apparently isn't done making highlights even after the end of his team's season.

The freshman was back in the gym in a pickup game and came through with arguably his biggest dunk of the year, causing the entire backboard to shake:

Williamson has produced incredible dunks throughout the college basketball season, but he showed he is capable of even more when the cameras aren't on him.

The Blue Devils saw their season come to an end Sunday with a one-point loss to Michigan State in the Elite Eight. The next stop for the forward is likely the NBA, as he is favored to be the No. 1 overall pick in the draft.

Until then, he will apparently spend his time embarrassing whoever lines up against him in the gym.

Duke's fantastic freshmen showed their emotions following Sunday's Elite Eight loss to Michigan State, and perhaps no one more than Tre Jones, who was seen nearly collapsing on the court as tears flowed.

Given a chance to compose himself after the game, Jones said the team felt an "us against the world" mentality.

"If you weren't a Duke fan, everyone wanted to see us fail," he told reporters. "All the adversity, it made us so close as a group. We all wanted to win so bad, and that's what hurts so much."

Jones was limited to four points and five assists in 40 minutes during the 68-67 loss, which effectively ended after RJ Barrett missed one of two free throws that would have tied the game with 5.2 seconds remaining. Duke had done an excellent job of avoiding foul calls throughout the second half but wound up not having enough time to force Michigan State to the line for a one-and-one.

Jones, Zion Williamson, Cam Reddish and Barrett are widely expected to enter the 2019 NBA draft and be first-round picks. The quartet comprised one of the top recruiting classes in college basketball history; Barrett, Reddish and Williamson were each top-five recruits, and Jones was the "worst" of the bunch at No. 15, per 247Sports.

"Only one team can be on top, and the odds are slim," Williamson said. "The only opinions we're worried about are in this locker room, and we battled. It's not the ending we wanted, but we played our hardest."

Williamson is the consensus No. 1 overall prospect in the 2019 class and will be the top pick, barring some unforeseen circumstance. He could be immediately followed by Barrett, which would be the first time teammates went one-two since Anthony Davis and Michael Kidd-Gilchrist in 2012.

The 2018-19 men's college basketball season was largely defined by the Duke Blue Devils, but, much to head coach Mike Krzyzewski's disappointment, they will not be part of the Final Four on Saturday.

"They're deserving of special things, and they have had a special year," Krzyzewski said after his team lost to the Michigan State Spartans by a single point in Sunday's Elite Eight matchup, per David M. Hale of ESPN.com. "But not going to the Final Four is obviously a huge disappointment for us."

It was easy to assume this group of Blue Devils would etch their names in championship lore throughout the season.

After all, Zion Williamson was college basketball's premier attraction with a combination of gravity-defying dunks, awe-inspiring blocks and an ability to take over games in crunch time. RJ Barrett and Cam Reddish gave him two potential top-five picks as running mates, which is a combination most coaches dream of throughout their entire careers.

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Krzyzewski lived that dream for much of the season, but the group of freshmen was unable to lead Duke to its 17th Final Four in program history.

"It's very upsetting to think about," Williamson said, per Hale. "You see all the faces in this locker room, and I'm just trying not to focus on [the future]."

That future will almost surely include hearing his name called as the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA draft, meaning he likely missed his one opportunity to cut down the nets as a Final Four participant. Making it even harder is the fact that he didn't get the chance to decide the game on Duke's final possession.

Instead, Barrett missed a go-ahead three-pointer before the Blue Devils were given another chance when the Spartans knocked the ball out of bounds. Barrett drew a foul while attacking the basket down two but was only able to make one of the ensuing free throws.

Kenny Goins hit the biggest shot of the game for Michigan State on a go-ahead three in the final minute, while Cassius Winston was the best player on the floor for extended stretches with 20 points, 10 assists and four steals.

While Michigan State will have the opportunity to add another championship to its own storied legacy, Sunday's game will be remembered as much for Duke's failure to live up to expectations as the Spartans' monumental victory.