Duke basketball sends another player to NBA with contract signing

The Duke basketball program saw another player head off to the NBA with a contract signing.

Draft day was an odd night for the Duke basketball program with four eligible players, none being selected in the first round.

It was the first year since 2009 that the Blue Devils did not have a first-round pick, and all subsequent records within the first round were also broken for the program.

Three of the four draft-eligible players were selected in the second round as Vernon Carey Jr. went No. 32 overall to the Charlotte Hornets, Tre Jones at No. 41 to the San Antonio Spurs, and Cassius Stanley at No. 54 to the Indiana Pacers.

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However, the fourth draft-eligible prospect the Blue Devils possessed, Javin DeLaurier, has also found his way to the NBA after signing as an undrafted free agent with the Charlotte Hornets, potentially teaming up once again with Carey Jr.

The deal DeLaurier signed with the Hornets is an Exhibit-10 deal, which is a non-guaranteed one-year, minimum-salary contract that allows a player to make a bonus of up to $50K if he is waived and remains on the franchise’s G-League team for at least 60 days.

All players that left the Duke basketball program are playing professionally

Despite the Blue Devils not getting a chance to win their sixth National Championship, Duke still saw six players leave its program following the 2019-20 season, and all six are playing professionally.

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Carey Jr., Jones, Stanley, and DeLaurier have made their way to the NBA while Jack White signed a contract to play professionally in the Australian NBL, his home country, and Justin Robinson signed to play with KK Mornar Bar of the ABA League, a professional basketball league in Europe.

Javin DeLaurier still has a long way to go to potentially crack a rotation with the Charlotte Hornets, but the former Duke captain has his foot in the door and will try to break down the next hurdle in his professional career.