Duke picked up its first commitment of the Class of 2026 on Tuesday, when five-star wing Bryson Howard announced his commitment to the Blue Devils live on the CBS Sports College Basketball YouTube channel. Howard chose Duke over North Carolina and Kentucky after a whirlwind push that has increased dramatically in recent months.
The top-ranked prospect from the state of Texas went unranked until he exploded onto the starting circuit following his junior season at Heritage High School in Frisco, Texas. Howard’s first big jump took him to No. 29 in the prospect rankings before reaching five-star status with his final jump to No. 12 overall.
Howard comes from a strong pedigree, as his father, Josh Howard, played 10 years in the NBA after a legendary four-year career at Wake Forest. The elder Howard was the ACC Player of the Year in 2003 and an NBA All-Star in 2007 while playing for the Dallas Mavericks.
Here’s the breakdown of Bryson Howard’s play from 247Sports director of scouting Adam Finkelstein:
He attacks the rim in straight lines, goes downhill and absorbs contact with a physical style. He rises to finish above the rim and is a lob threat. He also has a translatable shooting stroke and has even shown some flashes of being able to make motion shots (45% 3pt, 75% FT), which is very unusual for someone so young (won’t turn 18 until high school graduation) and with such long arms (6-foot wingspan).
In addition to his size and physicality, Howard also has a naturally strong frame that will only continue to fill out. He is committed defensively, excels in his field coverage and has good playing characteristics (2 steals and 0.9 steals). There is still room for him to improve some of his angles, but he has a world of potential both on and off the ball. Offensively, he could take his game to a new level by developing his right hand and decision-making, especially when he is in attack mode (1.5 assists vs. 1.9 turnovers).
Howard averaged 17.1 points and 10.2 rebounds per game in 37 games during his junior season in high school. Houston, Texas and Tennessee were also involved in Howard’s recruitment before he narrowed his list of finalists to three.
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