Did Kyrie Irving scoop DeAndre Daniels to Duke?

Yesterday afternoon, Kyrie Irving surprised no one in the world except for Chris Cusack by declaring for the NBA Draft.

It was the right move. He's going to be a top five pick. Lockout or not, Irving wasn't staying in school.

Today, Irving was on a teleconference to discuss his decision to enter the NBA Draft and he may have let a bit of inside information slip. First, the back ground.


DeAndre Daniels is a top 35 recruit in the country and, at one point, was ranked as high as top ten. In July of 2009, Daniels, who was at Woodland Hills High in California at the time, committed to Texas, calling it his dream school. He backed off of that commitment in August of 2010, and has since been rumored to be headed to both Kentucky and Kansas.

Now a part of the IMG Academy program, Daniels has an official visit lined up with Duke the weekend of the 15th. This is where Irving comes into play. During the conference call, the point guard said:

I think that this year’s team was really special. And I thought next year’s team would be really special if I were to return. I think we have five recruits coming in with the addition of DeAndre Daniels. So that would be really special. (Ed. Note: Our emphasis added.)

Was Irving merely speculating that Duke could land Daniels? Does Irving know something that the rest of us don't?

Who knows. But as Dan Wiederer points out, the Blue Devils have all kinds of connections with IMG Academy:

The basketball director at IMG is Andy Borman, who played at Duke from 2000-04. The director of basketball operations meanwhile is Greg Spatola, who is the brother of Chris Spatola, who is both Duke’s director of basketball operations and Mike Krzyzewski’s son-in-law.

All signs seem to point to Duke.

He'd be an interesting addition to Duke's lineup. Daniels is a slender, 6'7" small forward known for his ability to score. With Duke's current front court consisting of Ryan Kelly, Josh Hairston, a trio of Plumlees, and another freshman wing in Michael Gbinje, Daniels would be shot of athleticism and scoring punch, similar to what DeShaun Thomas provided Ohio State this season.

His visit is next weekend.

I guess we'll just have to wait and see.