Duke basketball: Joey Baker announces he will return for junior year

Duke basketball sophomore Joey Baker announced on social media that he will be returning to Durham for his junior season.

Days after the season was canceled due to COVID-19, many Duke basketball fans have been pondering the 2020-21 season and what a potential roster could look like.

Well, aside from the incoming freshmen already signed with the Blue Devils, the roster got a bit more clear on Tuesday night as sophomore Joey Baker announced he will be returning to Durham for his junior season.

Many fans of the Duke basketball team have been questioning whether or not Baker would transfer due to a lack of playing time and no consistent minutes.

Baker announced his decision by posting his sophomore season highlights on both Twitter and Instagram.

https://twitter.com/Joey_bvker/status/1240047222936477696

Joey Baker was an afterthought in the stacked recruiting class of Zion Williamson, RJ Barrett, Cam Reddish, and Tre Jones all with the former three leaving Duke after just one season.

The Fayetteville, N.C, native had his red-shirt burned in his freshman season in a road victory over Syracuse in February but only played 18 total minutes in four games.

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Entering his second season in Durham, fans were eager to see what Baker would bring to the table in a larger role, but it was a mixed bag.

The 6-foot-7 guard thrived in spurts but struggled in the limited games he started, and he would then be relegated to a handful of minutes or even registering DNP’s in some contests.

Joey Baker was in competition with Alex O’Connell for minutes coming off the bench, and Mike Krzyzewski rarely played the two together, as it was either one or the other.

In 28 games played, including three starts, Baker averaged 5.0 points, 0.9 rebounds, 0.8 assists, and 0.5 steals per game in 12.1 minutes per game while shooting 41.0 percent from the field, 39.4 percent from 3-point range, and 91.7 percent from the free throw line.

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With his team-first attitude, Joey Baker could be in line to be a captain of the 2020-21 Blue Devils as all four captains are not expected to be back (Tre Jones, Javin DeLaurier, Jack White, Justin Robinson).

It’ll still be a battle for playing time for Baker as Duke will be full of talented shooting guards and small forwards next season.