Five Duke basketball players likely to bolt after season
By Matt Giles
Current Duke basketball talent likely to leave come spring: Jalen Johnson
As of a tweet on Tuesday from the Duke basketball program, freshman combo forward Jalen Johnson is out indefinitely with some sort of foot injury. Other than a report by ESPN during No. 21 Duke’s win at Notre Dame on Wednesday, which noted that the former five-star recruit is in a boot and will receive a reevaluation in 2-3 weeks, there are no hints as to when he will return.
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Nevertheless, as was the case when the Milwaukee native arrived in Durham at No. 13 on the 247Sports 2020 Composite, many 2021 mock drafts still project Johnson — who has averaged 11.5 points and 8.3 rebounds through his first four games — to be a lottery pick. And a recent aggregate mock draft, via Yahoo! Sports, has the 6-foot-9, 220-pound athlete going No. 8 overall.
Therefore, as has been the case ever since he committed to Duke on July 4, 2019, the widespread expectation is that Jalen Johnson will become the next in a long line of recent one-and-done Blue Devils, regardless of what the 19-year-old does between now and April.