Jalen Johnson Taken By Atlanta With The #20 Pick In The NBA Draft

Congratulations to Jalen Johnson, who left Duke after 13 games this past season and was taken by Atlanta with the #20 pick in the 2021 NBA Draft.

Just before he was picked, ESPN highlighted him and he looked nervous and uncertain. That changed seconds later when Adam Silver announced he was the Hawk’s pick.

He’ll join a great young core with fellow former Blue Devil Cam Reddish, Trae Young, John Collins, Bogdan Bogdanovich, Kevin Huerter and De’Andre Hunter, among others.

He’s going to probably compete with Reddish for minutes and Reddish has similar versatility plus he’s an outstanding shooter.

So we’ll see what he makes of his opportunity. As we’ve said for some time, his middle name is Risk until he proves otherwise. He’s got at least three years to prove that he belongs.

Neither Matthew Hurt nor DJ Steward were taken in the second round.

One other bit of Duke news from draft night: Mason Plumlee has been traded to the Charlotte Hornets. We’ll have more on that later.