Jared McCain headed to NBA draft
Duke freshman sharpshooter declares for next step with Instagram message
Jared McCain is headed to the NBA in an expected departure after one season at Duke.
McCain announced his decision Friday morning, a day after Duke’s end-of-season banquet.
The 6-3, 197-pounder finished second on the team in scoring, at 14.3 points per game. He led Duke with 87 3-pointers and made 41.4% of his 3s.
Here was his message on Instagram:
McCain had a slow start to the season and was averaging 7.6 points through the first eight games, when Duke was 5-3. After the ACC-opening loss at Georgia Tech, McCain scored over 20 points in three of Duke’s next four games and hit multiple 3s in seven straight.
The Sacramento, Calif., native had three 30-point games in the last month and a half of Duke’s season, two of them in Duke’s last three games. He scored a season-high 35 points in Duke’s win at Florida State, tying Zion Williamson’s program record for single-game points by a freshman; McCain had 30 points in the NCAA tournament win over James Madison, and 32 against N.C. State in the Elite Eight loss.
This year’s draft class is not thought to be deep. McCain lands in first-round projections, typically somewhere between picks 10-20.
The key dates moving forward are:
- May 12-19; NBA Draft Combine (in Chicago).
- May 29; NCAA’s deadline to withdraw from the draft and retain eligibility.
- June 16; NBA’s deadline to withdraw from the draft (to pursue other pro opportunities and reenter the draft process in a later year).
- June 26-27; NBA Draft.