The Blue Devils are officially getting one of their captains back.
Duke forward Joey Baker will return for his fifth season as a Blue Devil in 2022-23 after receiving surgery to repair a left hip injury Tuesday, per a team release Friday. Baker was Duke's lone senior this past season, and will utilize the extra year of eligibility granted to him due to COVID-19 to extend his career in Durham into the Jon Scheyer era.
Baker served as team captain alongside junior forward Wendell Moore Jr. on Duke's Final Four team in 2021-22. He is the first Blue Devil to officially return for the upcoming season, with the majority of Duke's star-studded rotation presumably considering NBA draft declarations in the coming weeks.
In his senior season, Baker averaged 4.5 points per game while shooting 40.5% from beyond the arc in 11.9 minutes per game. The former four-star recruit from Fayetteville, N.C., debuted at Duke in the 2018-19 season, playing in four games as a freshman before becoming a regular member of the rotation beginning his sophomore year.
Baker—who was on crutches at Duke's team banquet Thursday night in Cameron Indoor Stadium—will return to another talented Duke team. The Blue Devils, now led by Scheyer, are adding plenty of talent in the form of the top-ranked incoming recruiting class and will now be able to count on Baker for another year.
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Jonathan Levitan is a Trinity senior and was previously sports editor of The Chronicle's 118th volume.