Duke wing withdraws from NBA Draft

Duke wing Isaiah Evans has withdrawn from the 2025 NBA draft pool and won’t participate in this week’s combine, the league announced Sunday (via Twitter).

A freshman in 2024-25, Evans averaged just 13.8 minutes per game across 36 outings as a reserve for one of the nation’s top college teams. He put up 6.8 points and 1.1 rebounds per game on .432/.416/.813 shooting.

Despite his modest numbers, Evans had a solid chance to be drafted this year due to his long-term upside — the 6-foot-6 swingman was ranked as the No. 44 prospect on ESPN’s big board. Returning to school for his sophomore year will give him the opportunity to play a bigger role for the Blue Devils and potentially improve his standing ahead of the 2026 draft.

As Keith Smith of Spotrac notes (via Twitter), Evans almost certainly won’t be the last prospect in that range to withdraw from the draft after testing the waters. Many of the players projected to be picked in the back half of the second round (or go undrafted) could earn more NIL money by returning to college than they would on a two-way contract with an NBA team.

While Evans will be returning to Duke, the expectation is that his 2024-25 teammates Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel, Khaman Maluach and Tyrese Proctor will remain in the draft. Early entrant prospects have until the end of the day on May 28 to withdraw from the 2025 draft if they want to retain their NCAA eligibility.