Duke basketball: Exploitation backlash restricts Blue Devils recruiting

A long-overdue consequence of the NCAA’s longtime exploitation of elite hoopsters has thus far only once restricted Duke basketball’s five-star options — won’t be long until it happens again and again.

This time a year ago, Duke basketball coach Mike Krzyzewski and his staff were favorites to haul in then-2020 guard R.J. Hampton. Three months ago, though, the five-star opted to spend his first year out of high school doing something other than fattening the wallets of a small group of disgustingly greedy old men — aka, the NCAA.

By reclassing in order to shorten his path to the NBA while also benefitting right away from sizeable contracts with a club in New Zealand and a shoe company out of China called Li-Ning — promising a record-setting payout should he become a 2020 lottery pick — Hampton publicly scoffed at the NCAA’s attempt to bamboozle him into settling for the following:

No pay. No player to profit from his own likeness. No guarantee to receive a quality education if an athlete lands at a university that went unpunished after providing fake classes — aka, North Carolina. No chance for a smart kid to pick a time-consuming major like engineering and still be on his blue-blood coach’s good side.

No way much more time passes before all five-stars wise up and notice the obviously corrupt NCAA doing everything in its power to take advantage of them — inadvertently threatening the future popularity of college basketball in the process.

As Rivals’ Corey Evans pointed out on Thursday, the projected lottery pick who recently decided to “just say no” to college altogether has inspired  several others to publicly admit they are contemplating doing the same — all the rest probably have similar thoughts, only privately.

"“No longer are prospects content to simply spend four years in high school and then one year in college before beginning their professional careers,” Evans wrote. “Instead, reclassifying and/or signing a professional contact, both avenues recently taken by R.J. Hampton by signing a contract with the NZ Breakers, have become real pathways for some of the nation’s best.”"

Those Duke basketball fans who thoroughly enjoyed last season’s Zion Williamson Show — not to mention the delight this decade from watching the likes of Marvin Bagley III, Jayson Tatum, and Jahlil Okafor as Blue Devils — may want to cover their eyes for Evans’ expanded explanation of the sobering reality:

"“Five years ago, the biggest splash a high school prospect could make was with their college commitment.“Welcome to a new day, as the country’s top high school talent has taken a page from their professional counterparts and begun forging their own path ahead instead of playing college basketball.”"

The new day signals a significant change on the horizon for Duke basketball recruiting — likely to come well before the one-and-done era’s expected end in 2022 and much sooner than naive fans may think.

It starts with more five-stars choosing to find out what’s behind Door Two, prompting more “minor-league” and overseas options to spring up — one thing NCAA fatcats can’t destroy is the exponential growth to the game’s popularity all over the world.

With the increase in popularity, the average salary will eventually grow to the point that most any high school senior with at least a touch of athleticism, a hint of potential, and half a brain will start deciding to do the same.

Stay tuned to Ball Durham for more Duke basketball recruiting updates, analyses, opinions, and predictions.