What Happened to Trevon Duval's Eye? Details on His Vision

If the name Trevon Duval sounds familiar, it’s likely because he was a Duke University darling. Known for being a point guard at the school during the 2017 to 2018 season, Trevon made quite an impression on fans and the coaching staff. The baller played 34 out of 37 games and averaged 10.3 points per game. However, he was a one-season point guard due to aspirations of joining the NBA, which he did in the 2018 NBA Draft.

While Trevon remains a beloved Duke alum, many folks were surprised to learn that his journey didn’t come without any struggles. In fact, Trevon faced an important health issue during his tenure at Duke. After years of not paying it much mind, it was revealed that Trevon had an eye issue, one that many believe could affect the future of his basketball career. So, what happened to Trevon Duval’s eye? Here’s the full scoop.

According to The Athletic, Trevon had long disguised his vision issues. After he joined Duke University, those issues came to light.

“In high school, I went to a doctor who told me it’s pretty much not fixable,” Trevon told the outlet. “That’s when I gave up on it. Luckily, I came here and found out I could see out of it.”

The vision issue was in his left eye. After the Duke University team put Trevon through standard health checks, they immediately recognized that there was a vision impairment.

Trevon’s father revealed that while he was prescribed glasses as a child, Trevon stopped wearing them. As a result, his vision began to deteriorate, even though there was no official name for the condition he was experiencing.

Luckily, testing showed that his vision could be improved, as there was no structural damage. However, that would mean Trevon would have to undergo rehab so his brain could process vision from both eyes, so his new powerful contact lenses could work.

“There’s vision there, but if you’ve learned not to use it, your body will turn it off,” Nick Potter, Duke’s assistant director of athletic rehabilitation, told the outlet. “So the whole idea is, can we get this thing to turn back on? Some of it is getting the muscles in his eyes to work, the nerves that connect to the eyes, and even in the brain where he interprets it — all this stuff has to change.”

Going a step further, Trevon regularly worked through drills that helped him not only train his eyes but also allowed him to get comfortable in various scenarios to test how we would respond. As a result, facing his condition head-on and allowing the Duke team to help him has made a world of difference for his eyesight.

As of now, Trevon is a free agent. Previously, he played overseas for Turkey’s Manisa BB in 2023 and Azerbaijan’s Sabah BC for the 2024 to 2025 season. In fact, on May 16, 2025, Trevon shared a post that the Azerbaijan team won the championship.

Prior to playing overseas, Trevon unfortunately went undrafted in 2018. However, News & Record reports that he did sign with the Houston Rockets for the Summer League.

NBA later reported that, while under his Summer League contract, he signed a two-way contract with the Milwaukee Bucks, allowing him to split time between the team and its affiliate, the Wisconsin Herd.

That said, three games into his career with the Bucks, he was waived. From there, he signed another two-way contract with the Houston Rockets in 2019, but unfortunately never played a single game during the season. Instead, he was able to play during the 2019 NBA Summer League.

From there, he briefly signed with the Canadian Elite Basketball League and continued making the rounds among various G League teams, including the Iowa Wolves and the Grand Rapids Gold. He also signed with the Dominican Republic’s Liga Nacional de Baloncesto.

His persistence shows that although his journey has been filled with highs and lows, he continues to give his all to the sport he loves.