Two more Duke players enter NBA Draft. But they could return to school.
Two Duke veterans have joined three Blue Devils’ freshmen in the NBA Draft.
Junior forwards Marques Bolden and Javin DeLaurier both filed paperwork with the league by Sunday’s deadline for underclassmen to enter the draft.
Both players intend to gather information from NBA personnel while leaving open the possibility of returning to school for their senior seasons at Duke.
Under new NCAA guidelines, players are allowed to enter their names in the draft pool and retain agents without forfeiting their college eligibility. They have until May 29 to withdraw their names from the draft to be eligible to return to school.
The 6-11 Bolden played in 35 games for the Blue Devils, starting 21. He averaged 5.3 points and 4.5 rebounds per game while finishing second on the team with 58 blocked shots.
The 6-10 DeLaurier, a team captain, played in all 38 games for the Blue Devils (32-6) with 16 starts. DeLaurier averaged 3.8 points and 4.4 rebounds.
Duke has two five-star big men among its incoming freshman class. The Blue Devils have signed 6-10, 275-pound power forward Vernon Carey and 6-9, 215-pound small forward Matthew Hurt. Both players are rated among the top 10 players in the class of 2019.
This story was originally published April 22, 2019 at 11:37 AM with the headline "Two more Duke players enter NBA Draft. But they could return to school.."