As the 2022 Duke basketball offer list grows, here’s a name worth watching.
Sylvan Hills (Ark.) shooting guard Nick Smith Jr. already holds offers from the likes of Alabama, Arkansas, Auburn, Georgetown, Kansas, and UNC. And despite no offer from Kentucky, the Wildcats currently boast the 247Sports Crystal Ball lead for the 6-foot-4, 185-pound versatile four-star. So it’d only make sense for the Duke basketball recruiters to appear.
Per recent interviews, that appears to indeed be the case.
Smith, who ranks No. 25 overall on the 247Sports 2022 Composite with a collection of creative handles to go along with a soft jumper, said the following in May about the Blue Devil interest during his conversation with Stock Risers recruiting insider Jake Weingarten:
“Yeah, everybody knows about Duke. It’s just self-explanatory…They’re just showing a lot of interest right now. I don’t have an offer from them, but I’m just trying to build a relationship with them and just find the right fit.”
Also, Smith has expounded on the attention coming from Durham as of late, specifically telling 247Sports that the “offer” word pops up in his chats with second-year Blue Devil assistant Chris Carrawell:
“Coach Chris called me this week. He told me they were going to offer soon. He was very direct on that and said they’ve been keeping up with me.”
Piling up Duke basketball visits, offers, and interests
The Duke basketball recruiting staff, with head coach-in-waiting Jon Scheyer now serving as manager of that department as Mike Krzyzewski gears up for his retirement, has delivered its first two 2022 offers just in the past week. Those recipients are Montverde (Fla.) five-star small forward Dariq Whitehead and Westtown (Pa.) four-star center Dereck Lively.
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Whitehead will be on campus for an official visit this weekend. Meanwhile, Lively plans to make the trip to Blue Devil Land at the end of June alongside two others on the Duke basketball recruiting radar in Wilbraham & Monson (Mass.) four-star power forward Kyle Filipowski and Sunrise Christian (Kan.) five-star small forward Mark Mitchell.
As for Nick Smith Jr., he pointed out to Jake Weingarten that he’s not dead set on a decision timeline. At the moment, though, the rising high school senior’s calendar is loaded with official visits on tap to Georgetown and Kansas the next two weekends. Plus, he has already been to Alabama and Auburn this month, and he is slated to check out the Arkansas program in October.