Duke Forward RJ Barrett Declares for 2019 NBA Draft

Barrett finished the season with an average of 22.6 points per game for the Blue Devils.

Duke freshman forward RJ Barrett has declared for the 2019 NBA draft.

Barrett, the projected No. 3 pick by The Crossover's Jeremy Woo, announced his decision to leave the Blue Devils on Wednesday in a video shared on Twitter.

"I just wanted to thank everyone for all the love and support you've given us all season," Barrett said. "We had a great year. We're ACC champs and it was amazing to play for Coach K [and] play for the brotherhood. It was a dream of mine to play at Duke ever since I was a young kid. It's also a dream of mine to play in the NBA and have great success there." 

I want to thank God, my family, my coaches and everyone that has helped me reach this decision 🙏🏾 pic.twitter.com/z3GwdcV2ht

— Rj Barrett (@RjBarrett6) April 10, 2019

The former five-star recruit was the consensus top player in the 2018 class coming out of high school, earning the Gatorade National Player of the Year award during his senior season. In his first career game for Duke, Barrett broke the school's freshman scoring record with 33 points and six assists against No. 2 ranked Kentucky at the Champions Classic.

Barrett led the team with 26 points and 14 rebounds in Duke's first-round NCAA tournament win over NDSU. He finished the tournament with 81 total points when the Blue Devils were eliminated by Michigan State in the Elite Eight.

Barrett finished his career with the Blue Devils with averages of 22.6 points, 7.6 rebounds and 4.3 assists.