It’s been a bit of a strange journey for R.J. Barrett. The clear No. 1 recruit in the nation coming into the Duke basketball program in 2018 and, at the time, presumed No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft.
Barrett, arguably the second or third best player to ever come out of Canada behind his godfather Steve Nash, was brilliant during his lone season at Duke. He set the freshman scoring record with 860 points, the only better season being J.J. Redick’s 964-point senior campaign. Barrett finished as a consensus first-team All-American, was USA Today’s National Player of the Year, and second fiddle to the most transcendent college athlete of our generation.