Duke basketball’s Jordan Goldwire enters NCAA transfer portal
Having played four seasons at Duke, in a career that stretched from Marvin Bagley and Wendell Carter to Jalen Johnson and DJ Steward, Jordan Goldwire will complete his career at another school.
Goldwire has entered his name in the NCAA’s transfer portal, aiming to leave as a graduate transfer for his final season.
The 6-2 guard from Norcross, Georgia, has a fifth season of eligibility available because the NCAA, due to the COVID-19 pandemic, ruled the 2020-21 season doesn’t count against a player’s four seasons. Rather than stay with the Blue Devils, Goldwire will head to a new team.
“I want to thank Coach K, the coaching staff and administration for helping me grow, mature and become a better player these last four years and giving me an opportunity to play for one of the greatest programs,” Goldwire said in a statement released by Duke. “In talking with my family and the coaching staff, I have made the decision to enter my name in the portal as a grad transfer and take advantage of my fifth year. My time at Duke has been one of the best experiences of my life, and I want to thank the Duke family, fans, Cameron Crazies and my teammates for making it so special.”
A reserve his first two seasons, when Bagley and Carter led Duke to the 2018 NCAA tournament final eight and Zion Williamson and RJ Barrett starred on Duke’s 2019 ACC championship team that also fell one win short of the Final Four, Goldwire became more of a contributor his last two seasons with the Blue Devils.
He played in all 24 games for the Blue Devils this season, starting 11 times as Duke went 13-11. Goldwire was voted to the all-ACC defensive team after averaging 2.25 steals per game. That’s No. 10 in single-season average in Duke program history.
Goldwire also led the ACC in assist-to-turnover ratio at 2.76 as a senior. He averaged 5.8 points and four assists per game.
“Duke fans owe Jordan a tremendous amount of respect for being such a first-class player, leader and teammate during his four years in our program,” Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski said in a statement. “Jordan always embraced his role, and his improvement over the course of his career is a testament to his mentality and competitive spirit. He was outstanding to coach and we wish him all of the best. It was an honor to have Jordan and his family as a part of Duke basketball and we will miss them.”
Blue Devils’ roster in flux
Goldwire came to Duke in summer 2017 in the same freshman class that included Bagley, Carter, Trevon Duval, Gary Trent, Jr., Jordan Tucker and Alex O’Connell. The only one of the seven to play four seasons with Duke, Goldwire was close to accepting an offer from Eastern Kentucky before the Blue Devils made a late push to sign him in April 2017.
He’s the third player with eligibility remaining at Duke to depart the program from the 2020-21 team.
Johnson, projected as a first-round pick in this year’s NBA Draft, declared for the draft in February and withdrew from school a few days later.
On Wednesday, reserve forward Jaemyn Brakefield entered his name in the transfer portal following his lone season with the Blue Devils. As of Saturday, 939 players have entered their names in the transfer portal to explore changing schools.
Matthew Hurt, a 6-9 forward who led Duke in scoring (18.3 points per game) while being named first-team, all-ACC as a sophomore, is considering entering the NBA Draft. But he’s yet to announce his decision.
Duke has two players signed for its 2021 recruiting class in 6-9 Paolo Banchero and 6-7 A.J. Griffin. Both are five-star recruits, with Banchero the No. 3 player in the class and Griffin at No. 7, according to 247sports.com.
This story was originally published March 27, 2021 at 12:36 PM.