Cedric Coward was Duke's prized possession from this year's transfer portal madness. But after a stellar week at the NBA Draft Combine, it's looking less and less like Coward will ever suit up in a Blue Devils uniform.
He's 6-foot-5, has a wingspan well over 7 feet (seriously) jumped nearly 40 inches in the "max vert" drill and shot 38.6 percent from 3-point throughout his college career. That sounds an awful lot like a lottery pick to me.
On Thursday morning, when talking about his decision to either stay in the draft or head to Durham for a year, Coward said, "It really depends what I hear... Right now, the information is definitely leaning toward staying in the draft." Coward also heavily implied that if he were a surefire top 20 pick, then he'd keep his name in the pool.
Coward would be a big contributor for Duke in 2025
This decision looms pretty large for the Blue Devils. Coward would have fought for a starting spot in Scheyer's rotation and his versatility seemed like it would serve as a perfect handoff from Kon Knueppel, as Knueppel heads to the draft.
Surely, Jon Scheyer and Duke won't be screwed without Coward. The team has three 5-star recruits coming to town in Cameron Boozer, Cayden Boozer and Nikolas Khamenia. But relying so heavily on freshmen comes with an added risk, as we know, and Coward was in line to provide some experience to an otherwise very young lineup.
An obvious NBA Draft riser
A few years ago, Jalen Williams of Santa Clara was a borderline top 20 pick in the pre-draft process. By the time the draft rolled around, he had snuck all the way into the lottery, and the Oklahoma City Thunder snagged him at pick No. 12. Now, Williams is the second option on a team with a clear path to winning the NBA Finals.
Coward isn't quite the prospect that Williams was, but there are parallels: 6-foot-5 guards with 7-foot-2 wingspans who can shoot at a high level and went to small schools who rise during the combine and the pre-draft process. We've seen this story before and it's worked. Well.
I have no inside scoop on which direction Coward is leaning. But his success in the past week doesn't inspire confidence that Duke will actually get its top transfer addition in 2025.