Limited in his freshman year at Duke due to right foot surgery before the start of the season, Dariq Whitehead may end up missing the start of his rookie year in the NBA. On Wednesday, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that Whitehead recently underwent a second right foot procedure ahead of the 2023 NBA Draft.

A projected first-round pick, Whitehead is expected to be fully recovered for the start of training camp in September, as this second surgery was a “revision operation with bone grafting for a fifth metatarsal Jones fracture,” Dr. Martin O'Malley from Hospital for Special Surgery told Wojnarowski.

An explosive scorer in high school, Whitehead was a McDonald's All American in high school and was one of the top recruits in the country. Thought by many to be a potential lottery pick in this year's draft, the 18-year-old's foot issues have since resulted in his stock falling.

Whitehead is still considered a first-round pick, but he will likely fall in the 20-30 range in the first-round of the draft. He is currently ranked 23rd on ClutchPoints' 2023 NBA Draft Big Board 3.0 and is projected to go 20th overall to the Houston Rockets in ClutchPoints' latest NBA Mock Draft.

Playing in 28 total games during his freshman season at Duke, Whitehead started in seven games, averaging 8.3 points and 2.4 rebounds per game while shooting 42.1 percent from the floor and 42.9 percent from three-point range.

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As Wojnarowski notes, Whitehead has been meeting with teams ahead of the draft on June 22 and he has visited with teams at the top half of the draft board. He should receive a considerable amount of interest in the middle of the first-round and there could be a handful of teams interested in drafting Whitehead despite his recent foot surgery.

Whichever team ends up drafting Whitehead is going to be getting a young, dynamic scorer who can provide immediate depth on the wing due to his offensive abilities. This is the reason why the Duke product is a first-round pick this year and why a team may still be willing to take a risk on selecting him despite his foot surgeries.