Jabari Parker Declares for the NBA Draft

Duke's freshman forward Jabari Parker sits down with Sports Illustrated's Jeff Benedict to make his decision whether to stay in school or declare for the NBA draft

After just one year at Duke, National Freshman of the Year Jabari Parker announced that he will enter the NBA Draft.

Parker will forego his final three years of eligibility at Duke and start his NBA career at 19.

He is projected to be a top-3 pick, which would come with minimum earnings of approximately $11.6 million in his first three seasons.

"Coming out of high school, I knew that Duke was going to be a great fit for me and it ended up being one of the best experiences of my life," Parker said in a statement. "I cannot thank Coach K (Mike Krzyzewski) enough for all his love and guidance."

"I had the opportunity to pick his brain throughout the year and it really paid off. I have learned how to be a man on and off the court and to be strong mentally going into practices and games. I appreciate him for challenging me to be better each and every day," he added.

Parker was the first freshman to lead Duke in points (19.1) and rebounds (8.7) per game, and he was the first freshman to earn consensus first-team all-America honors as well.

He was a scoring threat from anywhere on the floor, shooting 35.8 percent from 3-point range (and 50.4 percent from 2-point range). Parker was named team MVP at the season-ending banquet Wednesday.

Parker is the fifth one-and-done player under Krzyzewski, and third in four years, joining Corey Maggette (1999), Luol Deng (2004), Kyrie Irving (2011) and Austin Rivers (2012).

Parker joins Rivers, Michael Gbinije (now at Syracuse) and Greg Wendt, a member of Krzyzewski's first recruiting class in 1981, as the only recruited players under the longtime coach not to win an NCAA tournament game.