This offseason has gone about as well for Duke fans as could reasonably be expected. In the aftermath of a disheartening loss to UConn in the Elite Eight, Jon Scheyer has retooled his roster. Despite the expected losses of Cameron Boozer and Isaiah Evans to the NBA Draft, Scheyer earned major roster-retention wins by getting Patrick Ngongba II, Dame Sarr, Caleb Foster, and Cayden Boozer to return.
That comes in addition to Duke landing the No. 1 high school recruiting class along with high-impact players from the Transfer Portal in Wisconsin's John Blackwell and Belmont's Drew Scharnowski.
There's little that can slow down Duke's momentum as the Blue Devils position themselves for another deep NCAA Tournament run and, hopefully, ending the national title drought.
That is, unless there's legitimate smoke behind the rumors connecting Scheyer to the Dallas Mavericks head coaching job.
Duke fans don't likely have much to worry about here, but Scheyer is a competitor, and it wouldn't be surprising if the call of the NBA eventually becomes hard to ignore. It would be a surprise if it happened this quickly while Scheyer has things rolling for his alma mater, but the chance to coach Cooper Flagg again, for a team that could be a couple of smart moves away from contending again in the Western Conference, could be tough to ignore.
The Mavericks are gauging the interest of both Jon Scheyer and Dusty May for head coaching vacancy
According to The Stein Line, the Mavericks are gauging the interest of Scheyer and Michigan's Dusty May.
“It remains to be seen whether Duke's Jon Scheyer or Michigan's Dusty May reach full-fledged candidate status with Dallas since both are so entrenched with their universities, but league sources tell The Stein Line that there have been exploratory conversation with both college titans to try to determine if there is any interest. May, of course, just won a national championship with the Wolverines, while Scheyer coached Flagg as a Blue Devils freshman in 2024-25.”
It would be a pretty massive shocker if Scheyer departed Durham after just four seasons in the big chair, especially since he was Coach K's handpicked successor, spending the previous eight seasons on Duke's bench as an assistant coach while being groomed to take over.
One day, Scheyer may feel the call to the NBA is too much to ignore. Competitors tend to want to compete at the highest level possible. But I suspect that Scheyer wants to lead Duke to the national championship first. It would feel as if he's leaving unfinished business by departing before doing so.
The Mavs job is a great opportunity. It feels likely that both Scheyer and May end up staying with their respective schools, however, and the most likely scenario revolves around Dallas hiring an NBA assistant somewhere who will be tasked with Flagg's development and helping the Mavericks compete with the likes of the Spurs and Thunder in the West.
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