Duke freshman Dariq Whitehead announced on Wednesday that he’s entering his name into the 2023 NBA draft pool, per a press release from the school. The announcement doesn’t mention anything about Whitehead maintaining his NCAA eligibility, so it seems safe to assume he’ll hire an agent and go pro.
“I’m really looking forward to this next step in my basketball career and I’m truly blessed to have this opportunity,” Whitehead said in a statement. “I’ve dreamed of these moments for so long. I can’t wait to get after it and continue preparing for the NBA Draft.”
A five-star recruit out of high school, Whitehead was widely viewed as a potential lottery pick entering the college season, but has seen his stock dip a little since then. The 6’7″ swingman averaged just 8.3 points per game on .421/.429/.793 shooting in 28 games (20.6 MPG) for the Blue Devils, chipping in 2.4 RPG and 1.0 APG.
Whitehead sustained a stress fracture in his right foot last August and also dealt with an ankle sprain during the college season, so those injuries may have been a factor in his up-and-down freshman year.
Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report (Twitter link) believes Whitehead’s draft range is among the widest for this year’s first-round prospects. Jonathan Givony of ESPN currently has the 18-year-old ranked at No. 24 on his big board. Sam Vecenie of The Athletic had him at No. 22 in his most recent mock draft.
Can’t dominate the college game so why not get dominated by men for a few years until the body matures. Good thing he has a Duke degree behind him.
Degree? He’s a one and done and probably didn’t even take serious classes. But I am definitely with you he looked way to raw to be declaring
Extreme Financial Need forced him to declare.
Parents are in urgent need of remedial spelling classes as they were unable to correctly/accurately spell their son’s first name.
I have noticed names and identity not meaning as much anyway. Anonymous internet and gaming users. YouTube stars with names such as FreddyFastFinger2737.
Also nicknames, and AKA, and performer names.
KD,KP, KB, KS,LBJ,FU, WTF.
Even national writers use these nicknames and abbreviations regularly.
Where did all the Larry’s and Michael’s go?
Sounds racist, frankly. Or prejudiced at the least. It’s 2023. There are a lot of people in the world, and they have different names. Omg! Right? Larry might have sounded strange to a Lawrence. Get over it.
And if you really have an axe to grind with the concept of nicknames you probably would benefit from professional help lol.
99% of the people in here can’t even talk basketball so please let’s not try to bring racism into the forum. Please and thank u
Hard agree. Let’s stick to the game.
I am near Atlanta. Beat writers regularly referred to players as Schmoove, Horf, KD, CP, Kev.
Very hard to follow.
Its a strange concept to embrace if you are older or used to certain accurate information.
But complaining against certain change sounds angry. So whatever.
that’s netwigs. he’s joking around.
He’s from the tristate area. The guy can ball. He’s a legit 3, probably be considered a wing today. He’s already NBA size lol.
He was hurt to start the season. So he didn’t really get going. But had some good gms. I like him a lot. He’s young and you have to be patient. But in 3-4 yrs. He’s going to have a solid career. He’s a baller trust me.
Knicks can get him with Dallas pick. I really wish they would. Keep in G-league for a yr.