The Duke basketball program has begun its summer workouts, which means the social media team is getting busy keeping content up on the Blue Devils at work. Besides the clips of Isaiah Evans draining threes and Caleb Foster dishing passes, there’s one photo that Duke fans didn’t want to see, as rising sophomore and projected starting center Patrick Ngongba II was seen in a walking boot at practice.
The severity of the injury is unknown at this point. Still, with the jump Ngongba is expected to take next season in his second campaign with the Blue Devils, an injury holding him back from offseason workouts is not an ideal scenario.
The Paul VI Catholic (VA) product dealt with a foot injury for the majority of his freshman season, limiting his minutes heavily. Until late February, Ngongba hardly saw the floor at all. He missed almost his entire senior season in high school, dealing with an injury to his right foot, and is now seen with a walking boot once again.
Duke’s depth at the five spot isn’t one of its strengths heading into next season, and it was hoped that Ngongba could play serious minutes. Outside of the rising sophomore, Jon Scheyer brought in Rice transfer center Iffy Ufochukwu and returned Maliq Brown, although Brown isn’t a true five man.
It wasn’t clear how much Scheyer would split the minutes among his big men, but Ngongba was expected to be the lead center for the Blue Devils as a sophomore.
Ngongba has a chance to be one of the better centers in the ACC after displaying his rim-protecting ability and speed to run the floor in transition with the guards. His offensive arsenal certainly needs work throughout the offseason to stretch him outside the paint when needed, but Ngongba is already a lob threat inside.
He’s one of the many young guys expected to be a heavy contributor for the Blue Devils next year, as Duke will enter the 2025-26 campaign viewed as one of the top teams in the nation, but also one of the most inexperienced.
Ngongba averaged 3.9 points and 2.7 rebounds a game in 10.6 minutes a night across 30 games as a rookie.
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