How Michigan could entice Danny Wolf to come back for one more year
In the mind of most college and NBA analysts, Danny Wolf is all but gone from the Michigan basketball program. Slotted early in the season as a potential lottery pick and landing in the top 50 for Naismith Player of the Year, Wolf is an intriguing prospect. Standing at 7-feet, Wolf has the ability to do plenty of damage inside and outside. He also possesses the skills to lead a fast break and has great court vision.
All of those attributes are enticing to NBA general managers. But after the initial wow phase of what he can provide, it appears that some of those GMs and pundits may have cooled on Wolf just a bit.
Most mock NBA Drafts have him in the mid to low 20s of the first round. That fact, if true, opens up the door for head coach Dusty May and his staff to possibly convince Wolf to stay for another year. A lottery pick in the NBA Draft generally makes in the range of $4.5 million to $12.6 million. Once a player falls to where Wolf is currently predicted to go that number is in the $3.1 to $2.5 million range. Why does that matter? The lower range is one that collectives can match with NIL funding. If the collectives and May can muster up a couple million to persuade Wolf, there’s a chance we could see him back in Ann Arbor next season.
That scenario would give Wolf a couple million in his pocket now, and a shot at securing a bigger bag in next year’s NBA Draft as a higher pick. Perhaps after Wolf goes through some NBA pre-draft workouts, he might be more open to returning based on the feedback he gets. That is also assuming that Michigan can even raise the cash needed to make Wolf consider staying in Ann Arbor. While the chances of this happening are still quite low, it’s encouraging that there is even a slight scenario where Wolf could return next year in a Michigan uniform
