Duke has its first addition of the transfer cycle.

Cedric Coward committed to the Blue Devils while visiting Monday. He’s a 6-6, 206-pound guard who spent this past season at Washington State, though he only played six games because of a shoulder injury that required surgery.

There is an important caveat here that could mean Coward never plays a game for Duke; he has entered his name into the NBA draft process and will remain in it. The NBA Draft Combine will be May 11-18 in Chicago, with the lottery to be held May 12.

Ten days after the conclusion of the combine, May 28, is the deadline for college players to withdraw their names from the draft and maintain their college eligibility.

After the Blue Devils brought in three contributors through the transfer portal last offseason — Sion James, Maliq Brown and Mason Gillis — Coward is the first addition of the current portal cycle.

Coward’s story is a unique one that starts with him playing Division III as a freshman. At Willamette University, Coward averaged 19.4 points and 12 rebounds per game in the 2021-22 season.

He then spent two seasons at Eastern Washington, going from scoring 7.3 points in his first season of Division I to 15.4 in his second season there (2023-24). Coward made 13 of 33 3-pointers (39.4%) in that first season at Eastern Washington; he was 51-for-133 (38.3%) in the second season.

The Fresno, Calif., native averaged 17.7 points and seven rebounds across six games for the Cougars this past season. The shoulder injury he suffered was in practice; here’s an in-depth story about it.

Coward joins a Duke backcourt that looks fairly stocked. The Blue Devils are returning Caleb Foster, Isaiah Evans and Darren Harris from last season’s 35-win team, adding freshman Cayden Boozer, and now throwing Coward into the mix. Incoming freshman Nikolas Khamenia (6-8, 215) can also play on the wing.