Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje, 6’10”Son Of Former NBA Player, Commits To Duke

by Matthew MendivesMay 6, 2026, 1:52 am >

Spanish center Joaquim Boumtje Boumtje has committed to Duke.

Boumtje was graded as a five-star prospect. Since he is only 17, he will need to play two seasons in college before he can declare for the NBA Draft.

Boumtje is the son of former NBA player Ruben Boumtje Boumtje. He played for the Portland Trail Blazers from 2001 to 2004. He never played more than 10 minutes per game.

Last season, Duke had Cameron Boozer and Patrick Ngongba in their big man rotation. However, Boozer has declared for the 2026 NBA Draft. And Ifeanyi Ufochukwu will be graduating.

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Even after picking up Boumtje, Duke is still looking for more centers. So far, the closest they’ve gotten is adding rising junior power forward Drew Scharnowski from Belmont. Although Scharnowski doesn’t normally play center, there’s no reason to believe he couldn’t if he had to.

However, they’ve managed to address the center position with the incoming freshman class. Along with Boumtje, they also signed center Maxime Meyer from Bradenton, Florida. The four-star recruit got offers from eight teams, including Florida.

Along with Meyer, they also signed Cameron Williams from Arizona and Bryson Howard from Texas. Both prospects are five-star prospects.

Boumtje, along with Deron Rippey Jr. from Blairstown, New Jersey, is listed as a hard commit. This means they have informed Duke of their intention to play for Duke, but haven’t officially signed yet.

247 Sports Director of Scouting Adam Finkelson spoke very highly of Boumtje.

“The southpaw also has extremely soft natural touch and floor-spacing ability. He’s probably best described as a stretch-five who projects as being able to pick-and-pop, play out of various types of perimeter actions, and particularly valuable as a floor-spacing trailer,” Finkelson said.

However, scouts believe his footspeed, conditioning and aggression need improvement to play in college, let alone the NBA.