Ohio State basketball: Duane Washington enters name for NBA Draft

The Ohio State basketball player is checking out what his value might be in the NBA but is also retaining his eligibility to come back to Columbus.

Duane Washington was the Ohio State basketball team’s best player down the stretch of the season. His ability to create shots off the dribble was desperately needed, and he was the only player who could really do that on a consistent basis.

Coming off that strong 2020-21 season, Washington has decided to put his name into the NBA Draft. Washington will see what his value might be at the next level. Washington has decided to retain his college eligibility as well, so he could come back to Ohio State.

Washington is a little undersized for a shooting guard at 6’3 and 210 pounds. He struggles a little bit on the defensive side of the ball because of that. What he does do well is score the ball. He averaged a career-high 16.4 points per game this past season.

There are a few things going against Washington on offense though. One of them is his three-point shooting. He shot just 37% from behind the arc on 7.7 attempts per game. The volume is something that the NBA likes, but you’d like to see that above 40% at the college level.

The more concerning thing is his shooting efficiency overall. He only shot 41% from the field. That is not a good percentage at all. He took a lot of bad shots this year. Part of that is due to the fact that he was the only one who could create his shot, and he has to hope that shows on film.

I think Washington’s best option is to come back next year and improve his shooting stats. He kind of is what he is on defense at this point. But if he can get that three-point percentage above 40 and get his overall shooting percentage around 47, he could actually get drafted.

The NBA Draft isn’t until late July, so we won’t know for a while how this will shake out.