Isaiah Evans will have to wait another day before realizing his NBA dreams.
Long considered a lock to be selected in the first round, Evans suffered a precipitous fall on draft night. Despite receiving a late green room invite that seemed to indicate he would get picked, Evans was not among the 30 players selected on Tuesday.
Evans falling into the second round calls into question his decision to leave Duke with two, perhaps three, with the new five-for-five rule, years of eligibility remaining. Evans could have returned to Duke, or even entered the Transfer Portal, and perhaps positioned himself better for the 2027 NBA Draft while pocketing a significant amount of money via NIL.
Isaiah Evans may be regretting his decision to leave Duke with eligibility remaining
Evans had some concerns during the pre-draft process, most notably his slim frame and unexceptional athletic testing at the NBA Combine. Those were undoubtedly the reasons he ultimately fell out of the first round of the draft.
Evans took a major leap from his freshman to sophomore seasons at Duke and seemed to position himself to be a first-rounder. He went from a small bench role in year one to Duke's second-leading scorer in year two. He showed more of an offensive bag, with his ability to knock down threes at a high clip, but also an ability to get his own shot off the bounce.
Evans likely would have been one of the most coveted players on the open market this offseason if he had elected to enter the portal. He also would have been welcomed back by Jon Scheyer to Duke with open arms.
Instead, Evans bet on himself. Now, he'll be a second-round pick with a lot fewer guarantees.
First-round selections come with guaranteed contracts. The last pick of the first round is projected to sign a 4-year contract worth over $15 million, per Spotrac.
Second-round picks come with no guarantees. They have to be negotiated separately, and quite a few second-rounders end up signing two-way contracts instead of standard NBA contracts. In recent drafts, there has been a rise in teams giving guaranteed deals to early second-round selections, which is what Evans and his agent will hope to land on Wednesday.
Evans' fall is stunning, however, and certainly calls into question his decision to leave early for the NBA. That's especially true in today's college basketball, with the amount of money out there to be made.
Evans will still have an opportunity to carve out his place in the NBA. Plenty of second-round picks have done so, including the most recent Finals MVP in Jalen Brunson.
But Evans' decision will serve as a cautionary tale for many moving forward.
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