Duke Blue Devils head coach Jon Scheyer has suspended three of his top freshmen – guards Khaman Maluach and Isaiah Evans, plus forward Kon Knueppel – indefinitely following a chaotic night out at downtown Durham’s swanky “Velvet Rope” nightclub on Thursday evening. The bombshell comes mere hours after the trio skipped a mandatory team practice, blaming “health reasons” that insiders now call a blatant cover story. With the No. 4-ranked Blue Devils (9-1) gearing up for a high-stakes ACC opener against No. 12 North Carolina on December 14, Scheyer’s zero-tolerance stance has ignited a firestorm: Is it tough love to protect the program, or a knee-jerk overreaction that could derail Duke’s title dreams?
This isn’t Scheyer’s first dance with discipline – the 38-year-old Coach K protégé has built his young tenure on accountability, posting an 89-22 record since taking over in 2022. But suspending 60% of his starting lineup? That’s seismic. Sources close to the program tell ESPN it’s “program-shaking,” with athletic director Nina King backing Scheyer fully: “Standards at Duke don’t bend – on or off the court.” As X erupts with #DukeDrama and memes of the freshmen in handcuffs, the Blue Devils’ locker room is reportedly fracturing, just as their 2025-26 roster – headlined by these one-and-done studs – was primed for a national championship run.
🏀 The Night That Rocked Cameron: From “Health Excuse” to Headlights
Thursday’s timeline reads like a bad thriller script. At 10 a.m., Maluach (the 7’2” Sudanese phenom averaging 12.4 points and 8.1 rebounds), Evans (the sharpshooting wing with 14.2 PPG and a game-winning steal vs. Florida), and Knueppel (the Swiss Army knife forward dropping 11.8 PPG off the bench) all texted the staff: “Under the weather – flu symptoms.” Practice rolled without them, with Scheyer drilling backups like Tyrese Proctor and Caleb Foster through grueling half-court sets.
Cut to 11 p.m.: Durham PD logs a noise complaint at Velvet Rope, an upscale spot known for celebrity sightings (Drake partied there last spring). Security cams (leaked anonymously to Barstool Sports) show the trio in VIP, popping bottles of Ace of Spades, dancing with influencers, and – per witnesses – getting “handsy” with a group of UNC coeds. No arrests, but bouncers booted them at 1:15 a.m. after a minor scuffle over a spilled drink. By 2 a.m., viral TikToks (now scrubbed) captured Evans yelling “Duke forever!” while chugging – ironic, given the fallout.
Scheyer, tipped off by a booster’s late-night text, summoned them to Cameron Indoor at dawn. The closed-door meeting? “Brutal,” per a team source. “Jon lit into them – ‘You lied to your brothers, embarrassed the jersey, and risked everything for a night out?’” Suspensions announced via terse team memo at noon: Indefinite, pending “internal review and apologies.” No games until at least the Tar Heels tilt, potentially longer if NIL sponsors (Nike for Evans, Gatorade for Maluach) pull backing.
The “health reasons”? A sham. Maluach later admitted to trainers he’d “partied too hard Wednesday,” while Evans’ Insta Story from 9 p.m. Thursday showed him courtside at a local high school game – maskless, smiling.
Leave a Reply