Projected top-10 pick Khaman Maluach looks fantastic working out in the pre-draft process. Moving and getting off the floor extremely well, and made significant gains with his skill-level, footwork and touch over the past year at Duke. pic.twitter.com/3KceZdt9NA

— Jonathan Givony (@DraftExpress) May 1, 2025

The Duke Blue Devils men’s basketball team must say goodbye to all five of its starters from last season’s roster. Each member of the lineup that brought Duke to the Final Four will take his talents to the next level with three expected to become top-10 picks in the NBA Draft this June.

While Wooden Award winner Cooper Flagg will assuredly be the No. 1 overall selection and command most of the attention, classmates Kon Knueppel and Khaman Maluach could easily be the best from the draft class. The latter has looked impressive enough in pre-draft workouts for ESPN analyst Jonathan Givony to rave about him on social media.

“Maluach looks fantastic working out in the pre-draft process,” Givony wrote on X, the social media platform formerly known as Twitter. “Moving and getting off the floor extremely well, and made significant gains with his skill-level, footwork and touch over the past year at Duke.

Maluach has everything a team could ask for from a modern NBA center. The 7-foot-2 star can protect the rim at a high level. His interior defense is a strength of his game, averaging 1.3 blocks in a Duke uniform, and his immense length should help him make an immediate impact at the NBA level.

Maluach averaged 8.6 points and 6.6 rebounds in just 21.3 minutes per game, shooting an insane 71.2% from the field. His efficiency played a huge factor in Duke’s late success as he made 20 of his 23 shots during the first four rounds of March Madness.

Couple all that together, and it is clear why scouts love the center from South Sudan.

Givony is one of the most respected names in pre-draft analysis, so this is high praise from one of the best in the business. But for those who have followed Maluach for some time, it doesn’t come as a shock. The big man even flashed an outside shot, making four of his 16 3-point attempts as a freshman, so he really could be the full package at the next level.