Reporting coming out of the combine this week in Chicago suggests that Cedric Coward won’t ever end up in Durham as he’ll keep his name in the 2025 NBA Draft. Duke may be starting to expect that, too, per the latest from Jeff Goodman.
Goodman spoke on Coward’s stock after the combine during ‘The Field of 68.’ He, with what he has heard from those in the NBA and thinks about the Blue Devils, thinks that Coward will be staying in the draft, with his deadline to do otherwise being on May 28th, as a likely first-round pick come June.
“Yeah, stay in the draft, stay in the draft. He’s smart enough to understand this right now,” said Goodman. “I think he will go in the first round, so I think he’ll get a guarantee. Every NBA exec that I’ve kind of talked to feels like, you know, his backstop is probably the end of the first round so I think he’ll be fine. Go and, like I said, I think Duke feels probably the same way right now that he’s likely to stay in the draft.”
Coward committed to Duke back on April 28th over Alabama, as well as Florida, Kansas, and Washington in the NCAA Transfer Portal. He did so as a Top 15 overall transfer per On3’s Industry Ranking of 2025’s Top Transfer Portal Players after averaging 17.7 points (55.7% FG, 40% 3PT), 7.0 rebounds, 3.7 assists, and 1.7 blocks in six games played, due to a season-ending injury, at Washington State.
However, despite that commitment, Coward has made his intentions of going through the process as a prospect for the NBA Draft clear throughout. The combine was the latest part of that process, with Coward himself saying this week that, after testing, he was “definitely leaning towards staying in the draft” rather than coming back to college.
If he were to decide to turn pro, as is the expectation, the Blue Devils would lose their top transfer addition by far, as one of only two alongside Rice C Iffy Ufochukwu. To Goodman, that would leave some work still to do by Jon Scheyer as Duke wouldn’t have as good of a roster as the Blue Devils had based on what’s returning to go with their No. 2 recruiting class.
Coward not coming, though, would open a spot, and free up some funds, to go get that kind of player, depending on who’s still available in the portal. That includes those who may decide not to stay in the NBA Draft instead.
“They’ve got to figure something out because, I’ve said this before. I like their roster. Don’t get me wrong. I like it. It just doesn’t overwhelm me right now. And then, you take Cedric Coward out of there? Even less so,” Goodman said. “They’ve got some work to do. They’ve got to find somebody else that can be an impact player.
“I think one more guy. One more guy, whether it’s Cedric Coward or somebody else, and then you’re in business. All I’m saying is, without Cedric Coward, without him? You look at Duke’s roster and you’re like, it’s good but it’s not like you look at it and you’re like, holy s***. It’s not that good.”
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