A Scout’s Eyes: Isaiah Evans | The Human Torch is Sizzling Back Up Draft Boards
Flame on! Duke's fiery freshman is turning up the heat on the 2025 NBA Draft scene as March Madness approaches.
*All stats are ahead of Duke’s matchup against Wake Forest on Monday, March 3, 2025.
SUPREME CONFIDENCE. Those always seem to be my first words when describing Isaiah Evans, Duke’s five-star freshman flamethrower out of North Mecklenburg High School (NC). The 6’6”, North Carolina native just oozes confidence-it permeates throughout his game, has been a perfect fit with Duke’s team and is a critical component in both his emergence as Duke’s X-factor and resurgence on draft boards.
With Evans, we’re seeing a bit of what happens when confidence and preparation meet opportunity. Until fairly recently, Duke’s deep rotation led to inconsistent and lower minutes than initially expected for the prolific scoring McDonald’s All-American with preseason lottery projections. On the season, he’s averaging 7.8 PPG, 1.2 RPG, and 0.5 APG on 45.3% shooting from distance (4.5 3PA) across 14.2 MPG.
Both his play and injuries to Tyrese Proctor and Maliq Brown have warranted the increased minutes and role over the past month (eight games), where he’s entrenched himself as a rotation fixture. Dating back to the February 5th win at Syracuse, Evans is scoring 10.5 PPG and connecting on 45.4% (20/44) of his threes in 16.3 MPG.
Filling in for Proctor, he earned his first career start against Florida State on March 1st. To no surprise, he took advantage of opportunity knocking again. After a bit of a slow start to the game, Evans poured in a career-high 19 points in 24 minutes (6/17 FGA, 4/13 3PA). Can we expect more high-level production from Evans to close out the season, and how does it project forward?
Electric Shooting and Off-Ball Toolkit
Evans is a bonafide three-point shooter, giving him an impact NBA skill that brings immediate value to an NBA team (45.3% on 117 total 3PA). He embodies the phrase “shooters shoot” and has the ability to go from heating up to on fire in an instant. At worst, Evans should be considered amongst the second tier of shooting prospects in the class.
Equipped with fluid and repeatable mechanics, Evans also has a lightning-quick release. Sometimes it feels like the ball barely touches his hands before it’s released off his fingertips, especially on catch-and-shoots. It reminds me very much of a catcher with an excellent pop time behind the plate.
His lethal movement shooting is my favorite aspect of his shooting/shotmaking package. Dating back to the grassroots level, Evans has been a phenomenal movement shooter, featuring transition catch-and-shoot threes, relocations, and excellent screen navigation. He possesses an innate ability to fly around ball screens with beautiful footwork to get square before rising and firing. His mechanics are consistent whether he’s shooting off movement or a standstill.
The film shows a knockdown shooter with versatility and tough shotmaking ability. Via Synergy, the numbers back it up:
45.1% on 102 catch-and-shoot threes
54.2% on 48 unguarded catch-and-shoot threes
37.0% on 54 guarded catch-and-shoot threes
51.9% on 52 spot-up threes
40.0% on 30 threes off screens
31.6% on 19 threes in transition
Rounding out the off-ball toolkit is Evans’s ability to attack closeouts and glimpses of high-level cutting. He comfortably attacks closeouts from spot-ups and movement, perfectly aligning with his shooting prowess. His feel for screen navigation flows into his cutting, where he’s shown flashes of timing and savvy, turning it into scoring opportunities.
On-Ball Upside
There is legit on-ball upside that Evans hasn't been able to explore yet at Duke due to his limited role and usage. That likely won't happen unless he returns next season, where he’s slated to be a primary option alongside Cameron Boozer, a projected Top 2 pick in the 2026 NBA draft.
A return would grant Evans the experience and growth opportunity of being a primary option and a priority focus of an opposing collegiate scouting report—benefiting his development both over the short and long-term.
My optimism in Evans’s on-ball equity is rooted in his grassroots tape, in-person viewings, and prolific scoring reputation alongside those limited flashes at Duke. Evans has shown the ability to leverage his shotmaking prowess, burgeoning handle, and smooth footwork as a self creator—particularly with step-backs, side-steps, pull-ups, and euros.
Defensive Upside
Evans might not develop into a plus defender or be ready physically from a strength standpoint from day one, but there is certainly a path to him eventually providing value on that end. On top of his NBA positional size and length, Evans has bought in defensively for Duke, one of the country’s elite defenses. He’ll slide his feet on the ball, hustle to make rotations and closeouts, give quality contests with his length, and has shown quick hands at times.
One of my favorite defensive possessions so far from Evans came against Cal in the clip below. It’s a long possession where he rotates twice in help as the tagger, gives multiple closeout efforts, looks to box out, and communicates on the screen.
Like most prospects, there is still plenty to clean up with defensive consistency and technique while continuing to add strength to a maturing frame. However, the physical tools and care factor are there for Evans to make another real defensive leap in a larger role, at least as a defensive playmaker (0.3 stocks per game in 14.2 MPG).
Outlook
At a wiry 6’6”, Isaiah Evans brings a sensational blend of pure-shooting, tough shotmaking, and microwave scoring. His NBA role floor is nearly identical to his current one at Duke: a floor-spacing wing and outstanding movement shooter that can attack closeouts.
Evans’ NBA ceiling is as a primary scoring option, but it’s directly connected to his on-ball creation and usage. That creates one of the most intriguing stay-or-go decisions to monitor at the end of the season. The talented wing’s best opportunity to grow his overall game and showcase his ceiling will be back in Durham for his sophomore campaign. In the five games where Evans logged at least 20 MPG, he’s netting 15.6 PPG and hitting 50% of his threes (20/44).
However, if he continues to maintain the increased minutes and produces down the stretch/tournament runs (ACC and NCAA) like I believe that he will, don’t be surprised if a first-round promise comes his way following a strong pre-draft process.
For me, Evans is a lottery-caliber talent with a coveted NBA skill, on-ball equity to unlock, and defensive tools. If he declares and stays in the draft, this will be another really exciting test and case study for teams/evaluators in attempting to reconcile or align the eye-test, numbers, and elite pedigree with a limited sample size. It’s the name of the game. Don’t overthink the Human Torch, Isaiah Evans.