The best player in college basketball, as expected, is moving on.
Duke forward Cameron Boozer, the unanimous National Player of the Year, has declared for the NBA Draft, he announced via social media on Friday. (Friday is the deadline for players to declare their professional intentions.) After one of the best statistical seasons in college hoops history, the 6-foot-9 freshman will be in the mix to be selected No. 1, and is a near-lock to be chosen in the top four picks.
Boozer — much like the player he preceded in Durham, Cooper Flagg, who went No. 1 in the 2025 draft — arrived in college basketball with plenty of fanfare, as a top-three recruit in one of the most loaded freshman classes ever. But it didn’t take long for him to prove he was the best of the bunch, leading the Blue Devils to the top seed in the NCAA Tournament. His counting stats — 22.5 points, 10.2 rebounds, 4.1 assists and 1.4 steals per game — were among the best of any one-and-done player in recent memory, and a key reason Duke went 35-3 and swept the ACC regular-season and tournament titles.
He is the fifth freshman to win National Player of the Year, joining Flagg, Zion Williamson, Anthony Davis and Kevin Durant.
Even at a place like Duke — arguably the best program in America for one-and-done stars, which has produced 11 top-10 picks since 2016 — Boozer rewrote the school’s record books with his scoring and rebounding consistency. He had at least 13 points and five rebounds in every game, but often saved his best for the biggest stages. That included dropping 35 points twice in his first eight games, against Indiana State and Arkansas, and 13 contests with at least 25 points. In Duke’s Elite Eight loss to UConn — a game Boozer finished despite suffering multiple facial fractures mid-contest — he was the biggest reason why the Blue Devils got up by as many as 19 points, finishing his final college game with 27 points, eight rebounds, four assists and two blocks.
Despite the Blue Devils coming up just shy of the Final Four, Boozer finished the year leading the nation in win shares, box plus/minus and points produced, while narrowly coming in second in player efficiency rating.
He also posted the highest KenPom player of the year rating in the history of the statistic, dating back to 2011.
While Boozer’s size and strength helped him dominate the college game, his wider skillset is a strong reason for optimism as he begins his professional career. First, Boozer shot 39.1 percent from 3, looking like an NBA stretch-four with legitimate floor-spacing ability. He’s also a solid handler and creator, who refined how to pass out of double-teams this season, and who is comfortable running the sorts of on-ball actions that will be asked of him at times in the league. And defensively, while Duke mostly used him as a center-fielder rather than a strict low-post defender, his timing and instincts improved dramatically throughout the season.
There are some questions about how Boozer will handle NBA length — given some of his struggles against longer college forwards and centers, like Virginia’s Ugonna Onyenso in the ACC tournament championship game — but his package of skills makes him a high-floor option who should have a lengthy, productive pro career.
Not unlike his father, Carlos, a two-time NBA All-Star who played 13 seasons in the league.
Boozer’s twin brother, Cayden, announced his return to Duke for his sophomore season earlier this month — but Cameron’s fate as a one-and-done was effectively cemented before he set foot on campus.
Now what’s left to figure out is where he’ll continue his basketball ascent, likely as a future face of a franchise.
