Duke PG Proctor to return for sophomore season

Duke point guard Tyrese Proctor — a potential 2024 NBA draft lottery pick — will return to the Blue Devils for his sophomore season, he told ESPN on Monday morning.

“This is the best decision for my career, both present and future,” Proctor told ESPN. “Coach [Jon] Scheyer and I share the same vision; we have unfinished business. We have the best staff in the country, and they will push me each and every day.”

Proctor, the No. 30 prospect in ESPN’s 2023 NBA draft projections, will have a significant opportunity to build out his draft potential and climb into the lottery in his second college season after arriving from Australia.

At 6-foot-5, Proctor has dynamic shot-making ability, creativity as a playmaker and strong competitiveness defensively. Proctor has a chance to emerge as one of the top point guards in college basketball and a contender for ACC Player of the Year honors.

Originally scheduled to graduate high school at the NBA Global Academy in Australia in 2023, Proctor elected to reclassify and enroll a year early at Duke after Trevor Keels kept his name in the 2022 NBA draft.

Upon a steep transition as an 18-year-old to the highest levels of college basketball, Proctor and Duke got off to a slow start this season but played their best basketball in March. Proctor had 16 points and six assists in an NCAA tournament loss to Tennessee, plus 11 points and 10 assists and 15 points and five assists in victories over Pittsburgh and Miami, respectively, in the ACC tournament.

Duke won the ACC tournament championship in Scheyer’s first season as head coach after replacing Hall of Famer Mike Krzyzewski. Proctor’s strong late-season surge helped Duke win 10 straight games before losing to Tennessee in the second round of the NCAA tournament, a physical game that gave NBA scouts a sense of what makes him an intriguing prospect.

Proctor returns as a leader of a Duke program that will welcome the nation’s No. 2-rated recruiting class including five prospects ranked among the top 31 players in 2023.

“It’s all about winning, and that starts this summer,” Proctor told ESPN. “Having a full offseason on campus will be extremely valuable for my continued development, and I am looking forward to leading our talented incoming class.”

Proctor will forgo the opportunity to compete for a spot on the Australian senior national team as part of the FIBA World Cup in September and instead will spend the majority of the offseason building chemistry with his new teammates on campus.

“I’m going to spend a few weeks back home in Sydney,” Proctor told ESPN. “I want to see my sister, Kaila, compete. She’s a very talented young player. And then I’ll be right back at Duke with my teammates prepping for the season. I spent last summer playing with the Boomers, so I’m looking forward to having a complete offseason to work with the coaching staff at Duke and pave the way for us to hang another banner in Cameron.”

Jonathan Givony is an NBA draft expert and the founder and co-owner of DraftExpress.com, a private scouting and analytics service used by NBA, NCAA and international teams.