The Duke Blue Devils have landed one of the most impactful players in the transfer portal—Cedric Coward, formerly of Washington State.
Despite finishing the 2024–25 season with an impressive 35-4 record and a Final Four appearance, Duke faces a major roster shake-up. Several key players—Cooper Flagg, Tyrese Proctor, Kon Knueppel, and Khaman Maluach—have declared for the 2025 NBA Draft, leaving significant holes in the lineup.
However, head coach Jon Scheyer quickly made moves to retool the team, with Coward becoming a central piece of Duke’s plans for next season.
Coward recently explained why he chose to transfer from Washington State to Duke.
“The whole starting five, they’re leaving,” Coward said. “So how are they going to replace that? Then I looked at it this way: we’ve got Caleb Foster, me, the Boozer twins, Pat Ngongba, and Isaiah Evans. We’ve got killers on this team—and the shortest guy is 6’4.”
Despite Duke’s losses, Coward believes the team is still built to compete at the highest level.
“This is a team full of stars,” he continued. “It’s a group of guys who are killers and willing to do whatever it takes to win. Every one of us has the ability to take over a game on any given night.”
Coward averaged 17.7 points, 7.0 rebounds, and 3.7 assists per game in his lone season at Washington State. Before that, he spent two seasons at Eastern Washington, steadily developing into one of college basketball’s most versatile forwards.
With former blue-chip prospects like Caleb Foster, Isaiah Evans, and Patrick Ngongba expected to take on bigger roles, and the addition of Coward’s experience and skill, Jon Scheyer’s Blue Devils aren’t expected to slow down anytime soon.
