It’s that time of year again. NBA draft time. For the 14th consecutive year Duke will have at least one player selected-this time two, both almost certainly in the first round. In fact, since the NBA compressed the draft to two rounds for 1989, Duke has at least one player drafted every year except 1991, 1996, 1997, 2008 and 2010. Duke had five in 2022, including top pick and budding superstar Paulo Banchero.
Beginning in 1989 Duke has had a whopping 64 draft picks, including 16 top-five picks.
There’s another streak being extended. With Jared McCain a presumptive first-round pick, the 2024 draft will mark the 11th consecutive year Duke has had at least one freshman selected in the draft; the total in that span is 22 freshmen drafted. Trevon Duval in 2018 and D.J. Steward in 2021 declared after their freshmen seasons but neither was drafted.
But one thing has changed. The draft remains two rounds but now spread out over two days. Round one will be on Wednesday, round two on Thursday.
Pray tell, what’s going on here? My first thought was that the NBA was trying to emulate the NFL, which somehow has managed to spread out its seven-round draft into three mind-numbing days.
I was wrong.
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