Duke Basketball’s Trevor Keels will remain in the 2022 NBA Draft

Trevor Keels will not return for his second season with Duke.

After appearing in the NBA Draft Combine last month, the 6-foot-5, 224-pound freshman elected to keep his name in the June 23 draft and leave school after one season at Durham. He announced on April 23 his intention to turn pro but was allowed to withdraw his name from the draft by 11:59 p.m. on June 1.

Keels averaged 11.5 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 1.2 steals last season for a Blue Devils team that won the ACC regular season title and made a deep NCAA Tournament run during Mike Krzyzewski’s final year as Duke coach.

He becomes the fifth Duke player of the 2021-22 season to leave for the NBA, including rookie Paolo Banchero, second Mark Williams, junior Wendell Moore and rookie AJ ​​Griffin. All four are expected to be first-round picks. Senior captain Joey Baker entered the transfer portal in May along with Krzyzewski’s grandson Michael Savarino.

After:Duke basketball captain Joey Baker enters transfer gate

After:Michael Savarino, Coach K’s grandson, leaves Duke

After:Duke’s Paolo Banchero to enter NBA draft

Keels’ draft stock has dropped significantly since his performance at the combine where he had the fourth highest body fat percentage of any player measured and was the heaviest in terms of weight for his position. Keels also finished with the third-worst shuttle time and tied for third in the vertical jump.

The 18-year-old Keels turned heads with his season-opening 25-point performance against Kentucky where he hit 10 of 18 shots and led Duke to a victory. But he also scored 20 points twice more in the next 34 games and was hot or cold from beyond the arc. He played in five games with three 3-point shots, but also played in seven games with at least five 3-point misses.

Even without Keels, first-year coach Jon Scheyer will have a stacked recruiting class for the 2022-23 season.

Pennsylvania center Dereck Lively II ranks as the No. 1 2022 rookie in the nation, Massachusetts center Kyle Filipowski is No. 3, Florida forward Dariq Whitehead is No. Kansas Mark Mitchell is No. 13. Jaden Schutt (No. 60) isn’t far behind his future teammates with three-star Virginia center Christian Reeves.

Rising junior guard Jeremy Roach, whose solid play in the NCAA Tournament sparked a run to the Final Four, announced his return to the Blue Devils for a third season, giving Scheyer a desperately needed ball handler.

David Thompson is an award-winning USA Today Network reporter covering NC State and Duke athletics. He can be reached at [email protected], 828-231-1747 or on Twitter at @daveth89.

Comments are closed.