Duke basketball: Matthew Hurt should get drafted before Jalen Johnson

Why Matthew Hurt is Duke basketball’s best 2021 draft prospect: Loyalty

Pick any mock draft or big board out there that includes a blurb about each prospect. Chances are the first sentence for Jalen Johnson brings up the enormous elephant in the room: his decision to ditch his teammates and the Duke basketball program with eight games to go on the Blue Devils’ regular-season slate.

Plus, those who did their homework typically point to the 6-foot-9, 220-pound former five-star recruit’s three transfers across his four years of high school, particularly Johnson’s unexplained departure from IMG Academy (Fla.) during his senior year without having ever laced ’em up once for the program there.

With that in mind, NBA decision-makers are sure to repeatedly ask Johnson the “loyalty” question in pre-draft interviews. And regardless of the answer he gives, there are bound to be skeptics.

Will Johnson or someone in his inner circle call for a trade whenever things don’t go his way? Might he look ahead to free agency and incessantly daydream about his preferred “permanent” destination on the horizon? Or could his suspect body language alone be detrimental to a team?

Compare these questions to the utter lack of attitude-centric questions surrounding the positive-minded Matthew Hurt, a former five-star recruit himself. The 6-foot-9, 235-pound heralded sniper returned to Durham for a sophomore campaign last season despite regularly riding the pine down the stretch of his freshman year (more on that here in a minute).

Yes, given how their individual resumes must currently appear in the eyes of scouts, there’s simply no comparison between the two when it comes to commitment.