Highly touted Boozer twins make college basketball recruiting choices for Duke

Steve Wiseman, The News & Observer on Oct 11, 2024

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DURHAM, N.C. — Long Duke basketball’s top targets in the 2025 recruiting class, legacy twins Cameron and Cayden Boozer announced Friday morning they’ll play college basketball for the Blue Devils next season.

Sons of former Duke and NBA player Carlos Boozer, Cameron and Cayden Boozer are both five-star prospects who are in their senior seasons at Miami’s Christoper Columbus High School.

They chose the Blue Devils over Miami when they made their decision public Friday morning via social media. They had also visited Kentucky and Florida but, in the end, family legacy won out.

Cameron Boozer is the No. 2 player in the class, trailing only 6-8 forward AJ Dybantsa. At 6-9 and 215 pounds, Cameron Boozer has drawn comparisons to Paolo Banchero, who led Duke to the 2022 Final Four before becoming the No. 1 pick in that summer’s NBA draft.

Cayden Boozer, a 6-4 point guard, is rated the No. 21 player in the class, according to 247sports.com’s national composite rankings.

Together, they’ve led their high school to three consecutive state championships and are seeking a fourth this season. They’ve also teamed up to win three consecutive Nike EYBL championships at the Peach Jam the last three summers for their Nightrydas team.

In three seasons at Columbus High, Cameron Boozer has averaged 20.7 points per game with 11.2 rebounds, 3.6 assists, 1.5 steals and 2.1 blocks. Cayden Boozer’s high school career averages are 16.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 5.1 assists and 1.8 steals.

They pared their lengthy list of college suitors down to Duke, Miami and Florida over the summer before dropping the Gators earlier this month.

They are the first two players to commit to Duke for the 2025 recruiting class.

Cameron and Cayden Boozer made their official visit to Duke last Nov. 10 for the Blue Devils’ home game with Arizona. They returned to campus for an unofficial visit over Labor Day weekend. They followed that up with unofficial visits to Florida and Miami’s campuses over the following week.

Their father, Carlos Boozer, played for coach Mike Krzyzewski at Duke from 1999-2002, helping the Blue Devils win the 2001 NCAA championship. After being named 2002 ACC tournament most valuable player, he left school prior to his senior year and played in the NBA from 2002-2015 for Cleveland, Utah, Chicago and the Los Angeles Lakers.

Carlos Boozer made NBA All-Star teams in 2007 and 2008. Now an ACC Network basketball analyst, he returned to Duke and completed his degree in September 2020.

His sons will arrive at Duke in summer 2025 just as this season’s highly touted freshmen, including Cooper Flagg and Kahman Maluach, will be leaving for the NBA, as is planned.

For years, Flagg and Cameron Boozer jockeyed for the top spot in the 2025 recruiting class. But, in August 2023, Flagg reclassified to the 2024 class and arrived in college a year earlier than expected. That cleared the path for the Boozers to follow him to Duke.

Flagg is projected to be the No. 1 pick in next summer’s NBA draft, with the 7-2 Maluach also considered a top-10 pick.

As for the rest of the 2025 class, Duke has offers out to 6-2 guard Acaden Lewis from Sidwell Friends School in Washington, D.C., as well as 6-6 small forward Shelton Henderson from Bellaire, Texas, and 6-8 power forward Koa Peat from Gilbert, Ariz.

All three have made official visits to Duke in the last three weeks, with Henderson returning to Duke for Countdown to Craziness on Oct. 4 after making his official visit on Sept. 27. Lewis made his official visit at Countdown while Peat’s official visit was Sept. 20.