Duke introduced Tuesday it has named Jayson Tatum as this system’s first chief basketball officer, making him faculty basketball’s first participant to carry such a place. Tatum will function a particular advisor to go coach Jon Scheyer on participant improvement and roster building.
Tatum will volunteer his time to satisfy with Duke gamers on profession recommendation and private branding. He can even conduct common digital classes with the teaching employees all through the season to offer suggestions from an NBA perspective.
Tatum’s tasks embrace providing championship-level perception on participant improvement, management, and life as an elite athlete, in keeping with the varsity’s launch. The association formalizes a relationship that has existed informally since Scheyer turned head coach in 2022.
“Jayson is the last word skilled. His skill to encourage, inspire, and information our student-athletes is unmatched,” Scheyer mentioned in a press release.
The place represents an evolution in how faculty applications leverage high-profile alumni. Trae Younger and Steph Curry have taken comparable roles at Oklahoma and Davidson, respectively, although their positions focus extra closely on income technology and roster building.
Tatum performed one season at Duke in 2016-17, averaging 16.8 factors and seven.3 rebounds per sport earlier than turning into the third general choose within the 2017 NBA Draft. Scheyer served as an assistant coach beneath Mike Krzyzewski throughout Tatum’s lone collegiate season.
“This program means a lot to me, and I had an unbelievable time right here,” Tatum mentioned. “To have the prospect to formalize my relationship with this system and broaden my skill to influence the gamers and tradition means the world to me.”
Tatum is recovering from a torn Achilles suffered in Might throughout the NBA playoffs. He’s anticipated to overlook most or the entire 2025-26 NBA season whereas rehabilitating.
