Jon Scheyer explains how Duke handled Cedric Coward’s draft rise after commitment

Cedric Coward didn’t end up in Durham playing for Duke, just one month after his portal commitment, as he elected to stay in the 2025 NBA Draft. Still, with how he and the program each handled that entire process, Duke was able to pivot well in positioning its roster for next season.

Jon Scheyer explained the moving parts involving Coward’s commitment and eventual departure while speaking to the media this week. He expressed the Blue Devils’ excitement for Coward but noted that they were going to have to move forward and on at some point when it came to next year’s team. Everyone, mainly because of the transparency about it in those discussions, understood that in the end, Duke had to adjust accordingly.

“Yeah, I mean, it’s a crazy process, right, and you want to deal with people that are transparent, you want to deal with people that are just proactive with their communication, you know,” Scheyer said. “First of all, I’m really happy for Cedric, you know, to go eleventh in the draft, to end up in a great spot. I thought him, his family, his agent were nothing but pure class, you know, and just transparent every step of the way.”

“I know the news came out later that he was staying in the draft but you know, we had conversations weeks ahead of that with, basically, explaining to him, like, the program can’t wait, you know. We have to make sure our program is in the best position and, obviously, he wanted to get as much information as possible. And so, we basically agreed, like, we’re going to continue to move on and fill out our roster and we’d support him from afar with what he was trying to do,” Scheyer said. “It was very clear, when we started talking to him and then by the time his commitment came, the buzz surrounding him was incredible.

“I’ve never seen anything like that. It was, again, like I said, very happy for him. But, you have to, you know – somebody told me this once and, you know, I think it applies now in recruiting, especially in those situations, but coaching is making real-time decisions with imperfect information. You know, you don’t always have the information in those moments. And so, like I said, the transparency was key.”

Coward was one of the top players in the NCAA Transfer Portal this spring coming off his lone season at Washington State where he, in only six games played early due to injury, averaged 17.7 points (55.7% FG, 40% 3PT), 7.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.7 blocks per game. He also made prior stops at Eastern Washington as well as Willamette University in Division III.

Amidst national interest, Coward would commit to transfer to Duke at the end of April over Alabama, as well as Florida, Kansas, and Washington. By that point, though, Coward has already been testing for the draft with his pre-draft process only earning him more and more positives, as he’d later decide to keep his name in the draft just over a week after the combine. He’d then go on to be selected at No. 11 overall as a lottery pick for the Memphis Grizzlies after a draft-night trade by the Portland Trailblazers.

Over the week leading up to Coward’s decision, though, Duke rounded out its roster with four-star commitments to the freshman class in Dame Sarr (FC Barcelona) and a re-class in Sebastian Wilkins. That was a good finish, considering all things in Scheyer’s opinion, to what the Blue Devils did as far as their team for ’25-’26.

“We’d followed Dame for a long period of time. Different type of recruitment, but big believer in what he could do and we knew, just talking to him, and we were so thankful to be able to get Dame here. And then Sebastian,” Scheyer said. “I felt like the spring for us was great. Not just getting those two guys but I think it can be overlooked (with) the five players returning and the three incoming guys, how impactful they can be. So I think that’s a big deal for us.”

Coward would’ve been a welcome addition by the Blue Devils as one of the top players in the portal. That said, losing him in the end was made fine by what else Duke did in the meantime in preparing for him to possibly never arrive on campus.