Duke basketball finally extends offer to best player in high school basketball

There has been a debate for the last year as to who the best player in high school basketball was -- all of which were somewhat linked to the Duke basketball program.

Was it Cooper Flagg, Cameron Boozer, or AJ Dybantsa?

At a time, each player was in a different recruiting class before Flagg reclassified to 2024 and Dybantsa jumped from a 2026 prospect into the 2025 class, joining Boozer.

Now, Flagg will be a freshman at Duke, and Boozer and Dybantsa are set to be the headliners of the AAU circuit this summer, who will both be heavily recruited by Jon Scheyer and the Blue Devil coaching staff after Duke officially offered AJ Dybantsa.

He announced the newest offer on social media Monday afternoon.

Dybantsa ranks as the consensus No. 1 player in the Class of 2025 and most high school basketball analysts consider him as the top player in the country, regardless of class. Some even had that belief throughout the season when Cooper Flagg was dominating with Montverde Academy (Fla.), winning a Chipotle Nationals championship.

The 6-foot-9 forward, despite it being early in his recruitment, was considered to be a Kentucky lean prior to the departure of John Calipari to Arkansas. Both schools are still expected to be major presences in his process.

North Carolina is also a significant contender for Dybantsa, who is expected to be the top selection in the 2026 NBA Draft. He has already taken official visits already to Auburn and USC. He is expected to take more visits in the fall and there is no current timeline for a decision.

Duke has now offered nine players in the Class of 2025, all listed inside the Top-16 of the 247Sports rankings. There has still not been a commitment to the Blue Devils yet in next year's recruiting class.