There are 25 Duke basketball products who are active NBA Blue Devils. But a report from The Athletic’s Shams Charania on Thursday after suggests that count may well fall to an even two dozen before the 2024-25 NBA regular season tips off in late October.
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According to Charania, 2021-22 Duke basketball sharpshooter and Houston Rockets forward AJ Griffin “is seriously considering stepping away from basketball.” Charania added in the following post that Griffin and the Rockets “are preparing for his departure from the game.”
Just in: Houston Rockets F AJ Griffin is seriously considering stepping away from basketball, sources tell me and @KellyIko. Griffin, 21, was the No. 16 pick in the 2022 NBA draft to Atlanta, then traded to Houston this summer. Sides are preparing for his departure from the game. pic.twitter.com/AyNp1rF4MI
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 12, 2024
Beyond speculation on social media, there’s no word as to why Griffin might leave the sport just a few weeks following his 21st birthday.
Last season, the former five-star recruit, who came off the board No. 16 overall at the 2022 NBA Draft after helping power the Blue Devils to the Final Four as a double-digit scorer, saw action in only 20 games for the Atlanta Hawks. He averaged only 2.4 points per outing.
That followed a promising rookie campaign, in which Griffin averaged 8.9 points across 72 appearances while shooting 39.0 percent beyond the arc.
In late June, AJ Griffin was a piece to a three-team trade that sent him to the Houston Rockets for what looked to be — at the time, anyway — an ideal opportunity for a reboot to his career.
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