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Two Duke Basketball Signees Among Projected One-And-Done Lottery Picks
On Monday morning, ESPN's Jonathan Givony released a 2025 mock draft. Obviously, it's of the way-too-early variety. After all, there's no telling which current college players will still be around to enter that NBA Draft. And none of Givony's projected lottery picks, including two future Duke basketball players, have played in college yet.
Even so, Givony's projections are interesting from a Blue Devil perspective for a couple of reasons.
First, note that his first round begins and ends with a Duke basketball name. Of course, he has Montverde Academy (Fla.) five-star forward and early Blue Devil signee Cooper Flagg going No. 1 overall. That's not shocking. But at No. 30 is a current sophomore guard in Durham, Tyrese Proctor, whom many have viewed as a 2024 draft entrant.
As for the third Blue Devil in Givony's first round, it's noteworthy that North Meck (N.C.) five-star forward Isaiah Evans, who will join Flagg as Duke's two representatives in the McDonald's All-American Game in early March, appears as a late lottery pick, matching his composite 2024 prep ranking at No. 13.
Considering that Evans is a long-limbed bucket-getter who has long drawn comparisons to former Blue Devil one-and-done and current New Orleans Pelicans star Brandon Ingram while regularly posting 30-point performances in high school, perhaps his status as a projected lofty NBA stock shouldn't come as a surprise.
The other three members of Duke's top-ranked haul are Wisconsin Lutheran five-star forward Kon Knueppel and two Paul VI Catholic (Va.) standouts in five-star center Patrick Ngongba II and four-star forward Darren Harris.
Meanwhile, Blue Devil head coach Jon Scheyer and his staff remain in contention for NBA Academy Africa five-star center Khaman Maluach, No. 3 on Givony's mock draft.
Stay tuned to Blue Devil Country on SI.com for more Duke basketball recruiting news.