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Jonathan Givony
Cedric Coward is protecting his identify within the 2025 NBA draft and can forgo the chance to play at Duke subsequent season, he informed ESPN on Saturday.
“That is one of the best alternative for me to realize a part of my dream, which is making the NBA,” Coward stated. “Every thing is pointing in the best route proper now to comply with that.”
Coward, a 21-year-old senior, spent the previous season at Washington State, however he was compelled to redshirt after struggling {a partially} torn shoulder labrum that sidelined him after six video games and required season-ending surgical procedure. He was averaging 17.7 factors, 7.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists and 1.7 blocks per sport, taking pictures 40% from 3 and drawing vital consideration in NBA circles as a consequence of his distinctive backstory, measurables and excellent productiveness.
“NBA groups discovered that the damage wasn’t a setback,” Coward stated. “I obtained higher and have become extra profound in all of the totally different particulars of my sport. I improved tremendously in elements that I wanted to work on, which confirmed in my athletic testing and taking pictures. I am stronger mentally, bodily and emotionally now.”
Coward entered the NCAA switch portal and in late April introduced he had dedicated to Duke after taking an official go to, spurning curiosity from the likes of Alabama, Kansas, Washington and Florida.
“Despite the fact that I’m staying within the draft, I picked Duke for a cause,” Coward stated. “I really feel like I am midway within the brotherhood. This was a troublesome choice at first, however after the mix, it turned so much simpler with the trail I needed to take.
“This was all the time the primary aim. Even when I went to Duke, it will have been to be able to get to this degree. I really feel like I’m prepared. It did not damage that I did fairly nicely on the mix.”
Coward’s standing with NBA groups has risen amid a powerful predraft course of that boosted him from fringe prospect to projected first-round choose, leading to his choice to stay within the draft with out ever enjoying a single sport for Duke.
He measured an infinite 7-foot-2¼ wingspan on the NBA draft mix, examined a 38½-inch max vertical leap, ranked as top-of-the-line shooters in drills (making 71% of his mixture makes an attempt) and carried out a well-attended professional day in Los Angeles on Tuesday organized by Life Sports activities Company, the place he demonstrated his bodily instruments, perimeter taking pictures and conditioning.
Coward improbably began his profession at Division III Willamette in 2021, incomes Northwest Convention Freshman of the Yr honors. He transferred after his freshman yr to Eastern Washington, the place he spent two seasons below coach David Riley, changing into a Massive Sky All-First Workforce member in 2024. When Riley was named the coach at Washington State, Coward adopted him to Pullman, Washington, showing to be en path to an all-conference marketing campaign within the WCC earlier than injuring his shoulder.
A younger senior, not turning 22 till Sept. 11, Coward matches a mould each NBA staff is in search of along with his size, perimeter taking pictures, defensive potential and late-blooming trajectory.
Coward, projected because the No. 30 choose in ESPN’s cash in mock draft, might be cleared for full contact exercise on June 14. He stated he has visited two NBA groups for personal one-on-zero exercises — the Boston Celtics and Oklahoma City Thunder — and has labored out in Los Angeles in entrance of one other seven groups that got here to judge him.
“I see myself as a draft choose,” Coward stated. “I am on the lookout for a staff that wishes to take an opportunity on me. I’ve gotten actually optimistic suggestions. Quite a lot of groups have been coy, not exhibiting precisely how they really feel. It would not matter if it is a assure or not, there’s nonetheless work forward of me. There are solely 59 picks. If I’m lucky to be a type of 59, it is all a blessing. If I’m 1 or 59, it would not actually matter. There’s all the time work to be carried out. It would not matter what spot. It is extra about what staff will give me the chance to indicate what I can do on the court docket.”
The NBA draft might be held June 25-26 on the Barclays Heart in Brooklyn, New York.
Jonathan Givony is an NBA draft knowledgeable and the founder and co-owner of DraftExpress.com, a personal scouting and analytics service utilized by NBA, NCAA and worldwide groups.