Draft prospect turns down Duke for a shot at the NBA

The Duke Blue Devils will lose star player Cooper Flagg to the NBA next season and have now missed out on a major talent who is yet to even play a game for the school.

Cedric Coward has already represented Willamette, Eastern Washington and Washington State in the NCAA, but suffered a season-ending shoulder injury with the latter. He was forced to redshirt during his first and only season at Washington State and had committed to Duke for the 2025/26 NCAA season.

However the 21-year-old senior has had a change of heart and announced on Saturday that he is declaring for the 2025 NBA Draft, turning down Duke without ever playing a game for the prestigious school.

“This is the best opportunity for me to achieve part of my dream, which is making the NBA,” Coward told ESPN. “Everything is pointing in the right direction right now to follow that.”

He had initially been expected to declare for the Draft but that shoulder injury cut short his season and looked to have pushed back his NBA dreams. He entered the NCAA transfer portal and received interest from Alabama, Kansas, Washington and Florida. Last month he announced that he was committing to Duke but performed a U-turn after making swift progress from injury.

“NBA teams learned that the injury wasn’t a setback,” Coward explained. “I got better and became more profound in all the different details of my game. I improved tremendously in aspects that I needed to work on, which showed in my athletic testing and shooting. I’m stronger mentally, physically and emotionally now.”

The 7ft 2in shooting guard was the leading scorer for Washington State last season at the time of his injury, averaging 17.7 points per game. At the NBA Draft Combine he was rated as one of the best across the shooting drills, making 71% of his attempts.

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