CHICAGO — Joey Baker’s Duke basketball career, which began earlier than planned, included his redshirt being burned late in his freshman season and saw him as a team captain last season, is coming to an end.
The 6-6 reserve forward from Fayetteville, N.C., is entering his name in the transfer portal so that, after he completes work toward his degree this summer, he can use his final season of eligibility at another school, Duke announced Wednesday.
“My four years at Duke have meant the world to me,” Baker said in a statement provided by Duke athletics. “I have grown immensely as a player, teammate, and most importantly as a person. The experiences I have been a part of will be memories that I carry with me for the rest of my life. The relationships I have built here are more meaningful than I could ever express, and the lessons have made me a better man. I want to thank every person within the program, but specifically Coach K and our coaching staff, for helping to make these past four years the best possible experience. You all have influenced me in ways few could understand. It’ll be an honor to receive my degree from Duke this summer and I look forward to the next stage of my career.”
The NCAA established a May 1 deadline for players to enter the portal and be immediately eligible for next season, even if they hadn’t picked a new school by that date. Baker is entering his name after that deadline so he’ll need to apply for a waiver to be able to play next season.
Baker played in 34 games last season as Duke went 32-7, won the ACC regular-season championship and reached the Final Four. He averaged 4.5 points per game.
He played in Duke’s three ACC tournament games, including the 82-67 title game loss to Virginia Tech. But, after playing five minutes when the Blue Devils beat Cal State Fullerton, 78-61, in the NCAA Tournament’s first-round game, Baker didn’t play again.
In April, Duke announced Baker had hip surgery but he planned to return to play for the Blue Devils again next season as a grad student.
Duke, though, is attempting to add another perimeter player as A.J. Green, the two-time Missouri Valley Conference player of the year at Northern Iowa, is visiting campus Wednesday as a possible transfer. In addition, 6-4 guard Trevor Keels entered his name in the NBA draft and is at the scouting combine in Chicago this week while retaining the option of returning to Duke.
“It has been an absolute pleasure having Joey and his family in our program over the last four years,” said Mike Krzyzewski, Duke’s coach for 42 years prior to his planned retirement last month. “He’s been a joy to coach and a great leader for our young men. I’m thrilled he’ll be earning a degree from one of the great institutions in the world and I wish him all the best. Any program will be lucky to have him.”
Back in 2018, Baker graduated a year early from Fayetteville’s Trinity Christian School to enroll at Duke. He was on track to redshirt during the 2018-19 season but, in late February, Krzyzewski and the coaching staff decided his play in practice had been strong enough that they wanted to use him in games.
Baker made his collegiate debut playing five minutes on Feb. 23, 2019, when Duke beat Syracuse, 75-65. At the time, he said he was fully on board with the decision to burn his redshirt season.
As it turned out, he played a total of 18 minutes over four games that season as the Blue Devils, led by Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett, won the ACC championship and advanced to the NCAA Tournament’s Elite Eight while going 32-6.
Baker played in 27 games, with three starts, in 2019-2020 and 23 games, with one start, during his junior season in 2020-21. For his career, he averaged 4.1 points per game over 88 games while making 39.4% of his shots, including 37.9% of his 3-point shots.
Krzyzewski’s grandson, Michael Savarino, entered his name in the transfer portal in April to play as a graduate transfer elsewhere next season.
