National Insider Predicts Duke Basketball Starting Lineup

No matter how it shakes out, at least three Duke basketball newcomers will be starters for the 2024-25 Blue Devils.

Duke basketball guard Tyrese Proctor / Rob Kinnan-USA TODAY Sports

Not counting Spencer Hubbard, a Duke basketball walk-on prior to last season, the 2024-25 Blue Devils boast only two returning scholarship players in junior guard Tyrese Proctor and sophomore guard Caleb Foster. Fortunately for third-year head coach Jon Scheyer, both have some experience as starters.

Chances are Proctor and Foster comprise the starting backcourt when the Blue Devils tip off their campaign at home against Maine on Nov. 4.

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As for the other three starters, the undeniable lock is freshman forward Cooper Flagg, who arrived in Durham this summer at No. 1 overall on the 247Sports 2024 Composite and is projected to hear his name No. 1 overall at the 2025 NBA Draft. There are several options on the wing. Meanwhile, although five-star big man Khaman Maluach is a projected one-and-done lottery pick, there's no guarantee he'll begin the season as the starter at the five.

In Jon Rothstein's ACC offseason breakdown this week, though, the CBS Sports college hoops insider forecasted Khaman Maluach to earn that nod as the starting center, alongside Tyrese Proctor, Caleb Foster, Cooper Flagg, and a chiseled newcomer in former four-year Tulane guard Sion James.

Rothstein places the Blue Devils at No. 2 in his ACC Preseason Power Rankings behind the conference's defending regular season champions in archival UNC. Wake Forest, Clemson, and Miami round out his top five.

Cooper Flagg is the only Duke basketball talent on Rothstein's All-ACC First Team, which also features Stanford's Maxime Raynaud, Wake Forest's Hunter Sallis, Clemson's Chase Hunter, and of course, the reigning and Rothstein-projected ACC Player of the Year in the Tar Heels' graduate guard, RJ Davis.

However, 40 percent of Rothstein's 10 Impact ACC Freshmen are Blue Devils. Flagg is on that list, of course, along with Maluach and two five-star wings in Isaiah Evans and Kon Knueppel.

Plus, Rothstein's 15 ACC Impact Transfers include three of the four Duke basketball portal additions in Sion James, former four-year Purdue forward Mason Gillis, and former two-year Syracuse forward Maliq Brown.

And Caleb Foster appears among Rothstein's 10 ACC Breakout Players.

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