Duke basketball freshmen who would have benefitted from second year
PPG: 10.3, RPG: 2.0, AST: 5.6, FG: 42.8%. 3. player. Pick Analysis. 2017-18. Trevon Duval. 434. Scouting Report
Trevon Duval had the potential to be the next great Duke basketball point guard, but there was one glaring weakness in his game that always troubled him, and that was shooting.
As one of the most coveted recruits in the country, Duval was set to orchestrate an offense that was going to be centered around two star big men, Marvin Bagley III and Wendell Carter Jr., and returned senior Grayson Allen.
However, the way things unfolded for Duke that season hurt Duval because his biggest strength as a player was creating space between himself and his defender and getting to the basket. But with two towers down in the paint, he wasn’t able to do that.
The Delaware native became the first Blue Devil freshman to leave the program after one season and not be selected in the NBA Draft, and his time in the NBA has been extremely limited.
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Over the past two seasons, Duval has played a total of three games in the NBA, all coming in the 2018-19 season with the Milwaukee Bucks. The point guard has spent the majority of his time in the G-League.
While it could have benefitted Trevon Duval coming back for a second season to further develop his game, he likely would not have seen much time at point guard with incoming freshman Tre Jones in the fold.
However, if he improved from his 29.0 percent shooting from 3-point range, he would have been another option to space the floor for Duke in 2018-19.