Duke basketball players — including a key starter — recovering from offseason surgery

Kyle Filipowski’s route to what he and Duke hope will be a standout sophomore season with the Blue Devils will include rehabilitation from surgery.

Duke announced Thursday that the 7-foot Filipowski has undergone arthroscopic surgery on both hips and is beginning his recovery and rehabilitation process.

Named the ACC’s top rookie this past season, when he led Duke in scoring and rebounding, Filipowski announced Tuesday he will forgo entering the NBA Draft to play his sophomore season with the Blue Devils.

The surgery is similar to procedures recent Duke players Tre Jones and Joey Baker had during their college careers. Jones had his surgery between his freshman and sophomore seasons and was named the ACC player of the year in 2020 before entering the NBA.

Baker had his hip surgery last April before transferring to Michigan, where he played in 34 games for the Wolverines last season.

Dr. Chad Mather, a Duke orthopedic surgeon specializing in hips, performed Filipowski’s surgery.

Filipowski averaged 15.1 points and 8.9 rebounds last season when he led all Division I freshmen with 16 double-doubles. He started all 36 games as Duke went 27-9 and won the ACC tournament championship.

In addition to Filipowski’s surgery, fellow Duke freshman big man Christian Reeves had surgery on his left ankle.

Reeves, a 7-1 center, played in 13 games last season for the Blue Devils.

Dr. Ned Amendola, one of Duke’s team doctors, performed his surgery.