Duke basketball‘s Isaiah Evans was selected as the No. 33 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft on Wednesday, June 24.
Evans was drafted by the Brooklyn Nets but landed with the Minnesota Timberwolves via a trade.
Evans becomes the second Blue Devil selected in this year’s draft after Cameron Boozer was taken No. 3 overall by the Memphis Grizzlies. He is the 118th all-time Duke player taken in the draft.
It comes one year after Evans withdrew his name from the 2025 draft to return to Durham for his sophomore season. It paid off for the Fayetteville, North Carolina, native, who went from averaging 13.7 minutes as a freshman to 28.2 as a sophomore. He came in as Duke’s second-leading scorer last season with 15 points per game and was the team’s leading 3-point shooter, making 101 3-point field goals while shooting 36.1% from deep.
Evans also finished the 2025-26 season as Duke’s leading scorer from the free-throw line, making 86% of his attempts from the charity stripe.
Here’s what Evans brings to the NBA:
What Isaiah Evans brings to Minnesota Timberwolves
The 6-foot-5 ½, 186-pound wing brings with him his quick, high volume 3-point shooting ability. During his two-year Duke career, Duke went 30-0 in games when he made at least three triples. He heats up quickly, too, perhaps most notably scoring seven straight points in Duke’s 2026 NCAA Tournament win against St. John’s en route to finishing as the game’s leading scorer with 25 points behind four 3-pointers.
Along with his elite shooting ability, Evans also possesses an ability to generate good looks with his off-ball movement. Duke consistently used its action of finding Evans open on the flare screen. This was the case when Evans drilled the game-winning 3-pointer with less than 30 seconds remaining in Duke’s 67-66 2025 ACC/SEC challenge win over Florida.
Anna Snyder covers Duke for The Fayetteville Observer as part of the USA TODAY Network. Reach her at asnyder@usatodayco.com or follow her @annaesnydr on X, formerly known as Twitter.
This article originally appeared on The Fayetteville Observer: Here’s what Duke basketball’s Isaiah Evans brings to Minnesota Timberwolves
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