What kind of jump can Duke basketball expect from Caleb Foster, Isaiah Evans in 2025-26?
Isaiah Evans and Caleb Foster will be among Duke basketball’s most important players in the 2025-26 season, Jon Scheyer’s fourth as head coach.
As former five-star recruits, Evans and Foster are the rare high-profile Blue Devils set to spend multiple seasons in Durham before chasing the dream of playing in the NBA.
Duke has to replace its primary starting lineup from a season that ended with a Final Four berth. Freshmen starters Cooper Flagg, Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach are projected to be top-10 picks in the 2025 NBA Draft.
Junior guard Tyrese Proctor and graduate guard Sion James are expected to be selected in the second round.
Evans joins that group as an early entrant in the draft, but he previously announced his plan to return for his sophomore season, meaning he’s likely just going through the process for feedback from NBA personnel. Players wanting to maintain their college eligibility have to withdraw from the NBA Draft by May 28.
As of May 1, Duke hasn’t had much activity with the transfer portal.
The Blue Devils didn’t lose a player from their rotation to the portal, but they could potentially have Washington State transfer Cedric Coward joining the program. Coward remains in the mix to be an NBA Draft pick, but he could opt out and choose to play for the Blue Devils.
Here’s a look at what Evans and Foster could provide next season as starters for Duke and comparisons to the careers of former Blue Devils who were in similar situations.
Caleb Foster following path similar to DeMarcus Nelson?
It’s been an up-and-down start for Caleb Foster, who missed the latter portion of his freshman season with an ankle injury and started the first seven games of his sophomore year before moving to a reserve role. Looking at some of the recent Blue Devils in Foster’s shoes, DeMarcus Nelson’s career feels like a comparison.
A 6-foot-4, 200-pound guard, Nelson averaged 6.6 points and 3.9 rebounds in just over 20 minutes per game across his first two seasons at Duke. Nelson, who also had to bounce back from an ankle injury, started nine games combined in those years before becoming a 30-game starter in his final two seasons.
After averaging 7.1 points, 3.4 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 21.5 minutes per game as a sophomore, Nelson took a leap as a junior with averages of 14.1 points, 5.4 rebounds and 2 assists in nearly 32 minutes per game. A 37% shooter from 3-point range, Nelson was a plus athlete who developed into one of the top two-way players in the ACC.
A 6-foot-5, 197-pound guard, Foster averaged 6.3 points, 2 rebounds and 1.7 assists in nearly 20 minutes per game in his first two seasons. He’s a 37% shooter from 3-point range. Like Nelson, Foster has the frame and instincts to become one of Duke’s top two-way players as an upperclassman. If he can put up numbers like Nelson did as a junior, Foster will play a vital role in getting Duke back to the Final Four.
Isaiah Evans as Duke basketball’s next second-year shooting star
If he stayed in the NBA Draft, Isaiah Evans would likely be selected at some point because of his size, skill and potential. Set to return for his sophomore season, Evans could be on a track similar to several sharpshooting Blue Devils.
A 6-foot-6 wing, Evans knocked down multiple 3-pointers in 17 games as a 41.6% shooter from deep, finishing the year with 62 treys. The Fayetteville native averaged 6.8 points and 1.1 rebounds in 13.7 minutes per game.
He has the game and potential to take a scoring leap similar to fellow sharpshooters Luke Kennard and Grayson Allen.
Kennard hit 32% of his treys as a freshman, averaging 11.8 points and 3.6 rebounds in 26.7 minutes per game. Kennard made multiple 3-pointers in 14 games in his first season, finishing the year with 55 3-pointers. In Year 2, Kennard became one of the top players in the ACC, averaging 19.5 points per game on 43.8% shooting from beyond the arc. He went from 55 treys as a freshman to 88 as a sophomore, making multiple 3-pointers in 28 games.
Allen averaged 4.4 points per game in 9.2 minutes as a freshman, but flashed his scoring potential with 16 points in Duke’s national-title win against Wisconsin in 2015. He ballooned his scoring average to 21.6 points as a sophomore, going from a 34.6% 3-point shooter to 41.6%.
After making 18 3-pointers – including two games with multiple treys — as a freshman, Allen made 90 in his second year and had 24 games with multiple 3-pointers. Duke needs Ingram to level up in Year 2 as a scorer. The potential and talent is there for Evans to make it happen.
