Cedric Coward reveals where he stands on NBA Draft decision after Duke commitment

Cedric Coward because the first addition from the NCAA Transfer Portal of this offseason so far for the Duke Blue Devils on Monday. It’s now a question from here if he ever eventually makes it to Durham.

Coward spoke about his commitment to Duke from the portal in an interview on ‘The Field of 68’ last night. Part of that was addressing that he’s still testing for the 2025 NBA Draft, which has been focus for him too during his transfer recruitment, with him now having about two month to decide if he’ll be playing next season in college or in the association.

“Yeah, absolutely,” said Coward. “I mean, there’s no set timetable on when the decision is going to be made but, as I gain more information, as I talk to the people close, close to me and, you know, that have the information in order for me to make that decision, and as I talk more to Coach Scheyer and the staff, we’ll, we’ll come to a, I guess, come to a decision on what’s best for me.

“As I gain more and more information, I, I will make a more informed decision.”

Duke allowing him to still take part in that process, despite giving them a commitment, is something that Coward appreciated about the Blue Devils. Their staff understands where he is and is letting him go through it all to make the best decision for himself.

“You know, something with Coach Scheyer and the staff that really, I really respected is that they respected my choices in terms of, like, still going along with this,” said Coward. “Like you said, I’m a unique situation to where, like, you wouldn’t expect a player that’s going through what I’m going through right now to be, I guess, recruited and, you know, so highly sought after by a Duke or a Kansas or a Kentucky, whatever it may be.”

Coward, the No. 14 overall transfer per the latest update to On3’s Industry Ranking of 2025’s Top Transfer Portal Players, committed to Duke, coming off his visit with the program yesterday, over Alabama after also considering Florida, Kansas, and Washington. That’s after averaging 15 points (60.3% FG, 40.8% 3PT), 7.8 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.5 blocks, and 1.0 steals per game over a four-year collegiate career spent at Washington State, Eastern Washington, and Willamette University (DIII). That earned him interest from those top power schools but, also, interest from the pros with them maintaining that his focus is on making it to the NBA.

This is a big addition for the Blue Devils to bring in along with their returning pieces and the third-best incoming recruiting class. They’ll spend the next seven weeks, though, waiting to see if he’ll actually be part of that roster come the withdrawal deadline for the draft on June 15th.

“It’s going to take time,” said Coward. “There’s no set timetable and everything but, at the same time, it’s, it’s ultimately just going to be as I gain more detailed information on what could be the best decision. Then you make it from there.”