Duke Basketball Staff Employs Celebrity Power in Recruiting Arena
Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer and assistants Chris Carrawell, Amile Jefferson, and Jai Lucas spent most of Saturday at the LakePoint Champions Center near Atlanta. They were there this weekend to check out the nation's top prep talents in the first session of the Nike EYBL season.
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And it's safe to say they boosted their image via the presence of one former Blue Devil sensation.
As the Duke recruiters watched key 2024 targets Dylan Harper and Tyler Betsey play for the NY Rens on Saturday evening, they enjoyed the company of arguably the best recent example of what the Duke basketball program can produce in current Boston Celtics superstar forward Jayson Tatum.
Not only is Jayson Tatum recognizable as the first Boston Celtics player in history to average 30 points or more in a season, but he was also one of the top five contenders in the NBA MVP race this year and recently saw the release of his signature Jordan sneakers. That's not to mention all the commercials he stars in these days.
Tatum and the Celtics, who lost to the Atlanta Hawks in Game 3 of their first-round NBA Playoffs series on Friday but still maintain a 2-1 lead, remain in town preparing for their Game 4 matchup at 6 p.m. ET Sunday.
It says a lot about Tatum's love for the Blue Devils that he found time to support Scheyer — an assistant at Duke in Tatum's 2016-17 one-and-done campaign — at the first all-important recruiting opportunity this Nike EYBL season.
So did Tatum's attendance lock up any Duke basketball recruiting races? Probably not. But one can imagine that some top-shelf recruits with realistic NBA dreams must have taken note.
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Stay tuned to Blue Devil Country for more Duke basketball recruiting updates.