23-year-old forward joins Duke basketball through the Transfer Portal

When Duke basketball kicks off ACC play next season, Mason Gillis will be 24 years old, significantly older than the Blue Devils’ oldest returning player, junior-to-be guard Tyrese Proctor. Gillis, a seasoned forward from Purdue, brings a wealth of experience, having redshirted his first year before consistently playing over 20 minutes per game for the past four seasons. Notably, he has the unique experience of competing for a national championship, something no other player on the 2023-24 Duke roster has done.

With the departure of two quality forwards to the transfer portal, Mark Mitchell and Sean Stewart, Duke’s interest in acquiring a committed and experienced player like Gillis is evident. Consequently, head coach Jon Scheyer and his team were determined to secure Gillis’s commitment, which they successfully achieved on Monday afternoon.

The addition of Mason Gillis, a 6-foot-6, 225-pound forward from Indiana, marks one of the confirmed transfer acquisitions for Duke basketball in the current cycle, alongside former two-year Syracuse forward Maliq Brown. Brown, an All-ACC defender with two years of eligibility remaining, brings valuable experience to the Blue Devils.

Ranked No. 73 overall on the 247Sports transfer rankings, Gillis may not have posted eye-popping statistics for the Boilermakers last season, averaging 6.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in 21.1 minutes per game. However, his contributions, including an impressive 46.8 shooting percentage from beyond the arc on 3.2 attempts per game, earned him recognition as the Big Ten Sixth Man of the Year. This suggests his readiness to serve in a reserve role for a title-contending team.

With three open scholarships for the 2024-25 roster, Duke basketball is poised to welcome a six-deep recruiting class, currently ranked No. 1 in the country. These recruits will join Gillis, Brown, Tyrese Proctor, and returning sophomore guard Caleb Foster for Jon Scheyer’s third season as head coach.