Duke basketball forward Dariq Whitehead taken by Brooklyn Nets in NBA Draft first round
After an injury-plagued season with the Duke Blue Devils, Dariq Whitehead has his NBA home.
The Brooklyn Nets selected the 6-7 Whitehead in the first round with the No. 22 overall pick in Thursday night’s NBA Draft at Brooklyn’s Barclays Center.
Whitehead will be unavailable for summer league play after having a second surgery to repair a broken bone in his right foot. He originally suffered the injury last August during an offseason workout with teammates at Duke.
After missing the start of Duke’s season, Whitehead played in 28 games for the Blue Devils. He averaged 8.3 points and 2.4 rebounds, while making 42.9% of his 3-pointers. He also missed four games in late January and early February with a strained lower left leg.
Whitehead had a second surgery to repair the fractured bone in his right foot this spring and was unable to participate in pre-draft workouts. He’s expected to be ready for training camp, Dr. Martin O’Malley, the orthopedic surgeon who performed the surgery, told ESPN earlier this month. O’Malley is on the Nets medical staff.
Whitehead joins Dereck Lively, who went at No. 12 to Dallas Thursday, in adding two more Duke products becoming first-round picks.
This story was originally published June 22, 2023 at 10:39 PM with the headline "Duke basketball forward Dariq Whitehead taken by Brooklyn Nets in NBA Draft first round."