Duke Basketball: Blue Devils Connected with Transfer from San Diego.

The Duke basketball team still has two available scholarships for the upcoming season.

There’s no telling where Duke basketball head coach Jon Scheyer and his cohorts will look to next in completing their 2024-25 roster. After  from former four-year Tulane guard Sion James this week, they have two open scholarships.

One could go to fourth-year walk-on Stanley Borden, the only holdover from the Mike Krzyzewski era. And perhaps the other will go unfilled.

Or, if the Blue Devils are seeking a bit more depth, they might find a relatively young talent in the transfer portal willing to essentially serve as a practice body next season yet with eyes on developing into a contributor down the line for a blueblood program.

San Diego transfer Kevin Patton Jr., who ranks No. 429 overall on the 247Sports transfer rankings and has three years of eligibility remaining, may fit that description.

According to a  on Saturday morning, the Duke basketball staff is among a couple of dozen who have reached out to the 6-foot-8, 200-pound forward. That list includes several other ACC schools in Virginia, Florida State, Cal, and Boston College

In his freshman year, playing for the Toreros team that concluded with an 18-15 overall record and a 7-9 standing in West Coast Conference play, Patton maintained averages of 9.8 points, 4.4 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 1.3 steals, and 1.3 blocks per game, while logging 26.0 minutes on average.

His impressive defensive performances, supported by remarkable length, athleticism, and instincts, align well with the profiles of the three transfers already secured by Jon Scheyer and his staff via the transfer portal: Sion James, former Purdue forward Mason Gillis, and former Syracuse forward Maliq Brown.