Duke basketball not playing in inaugural $1 million NIL event in Las Vegas

The Duke basketball non-conference schedule is already daunting and it will not get that much more challenging.

After rumblings of the Blue Devils being linked to an inaugural Name, Image, and Likeness tournament in Las Vegas in November, Duke will not be in the field this season.

According CBS Sports, Alabama, Houston, Notre Dame, Oregon, Rutgers, San Diego State and Texas A&M will all play in the event as the final team is still being discussed among the tournament organizers.

The NIL collective from each will earn $1 million for the program participating that is to be divided among the players and players will have the chance to earn more NIL opportunities through sponsors of the event.

Another million dollars could be awarded to the winning team but a formart for the event is not yet known. There could be two champions with the teams split into two brackets.

Duke is a potential team to join the event in 2025, according to the report, when the tournament size is expected to double next season from eight teams to 16 teams.

The schools in the event for this season are expecting to participate for three consecutive seasons.

Gonzaga, Kansas, Michigan, Syracuse, and Virginia are also reported to be targets to joining the tournament in 2025.

Duke will be making a trip to Las Vegas to play Kansas in November but it will not be a part of the NIL event.

The Blue Devils will also play non-conference games against Arizona (Tucson), Kentucky (Atlanta), Illinois (New York), and an SEC program (Durham) to be named at a later date this offseason.

Jon Scheyer will have a lot of eyes on his program this season with two of the potential Top-3 NBA Draft choices on the roster with Cooper Flagg and Khaman Maluach.