Longtime Michigan basketball fan Danny Wolf helped guide the program to a Big Ten Tournament Championship and Sweet Sixteen during his lone season with the Wolverines in 2024-25, and now the forward has received positive news about his professional future.
Wolf is one of 24 players who have received an invitation to attend the NBA Draft in New York and sit in the green room, per Jonathan Givony. This invitation is generally interpreted as a positive sign for a player's draft stock, since it is based directly on feedback from teams with first-round picks.
The latest NBA Mock Draft from Givony and Jeremy Woo of ESPN has Wolf going No. 22 to the Atlanta Hawks. Woo wrote the following about the Michigan big man:
Feedback on Wolf from teams has been mixed in the predraft process, as he's a somewhat unorthodox prospect who some view as a more situational fit. His inside-out versatility and passing skills at his size separate him from the other bigs in this class. There are also real questions he has to answer surrounding his inconsistent shooting and foul line struggles (34% on 3-pointers, 59% on free throws), and whether he'll defend at a high level.
If the Hawks go with a perimeter player with their pick at No. 13, adding a big later in the draft at No. 22 makes sense, with Wolf making for an interesting fit in big, versatile lineups with Jalen Johnson and Onyeka Okongwu up front.
Wolf averaged 13.2 points and 9.7 rebounds during his year with the Wolverines, introducing himself on a national stage thanks to his ball-handling and outside shooting at his size.
"I'm lucky to be here. My basketball journey was anything but linear. It was extremely up and down," Wolf told media at the NBA Combine earlier this summer. "I didn't play much my freshman year [of high school]. I don't even think I played sophomore year. Barely played junior year was canceled due to COVID.
"When I tell my guys that I'm working out with in LA for pre-Draft that I averaged three or four points in high school, no one believes me. A lot of the other guys in this room averaged 20 a game in high school or were one-and-dones. ... Deep down I always knew it would be possible, and I'm just super appreciative of the position I'm in today. There's a lot of more work to be done, but it's been an awesome journey thus far."
Wolf's career has taken an unusual trajectory for someone now projected as a first-round pick. He came off the bench as a freshman at Yale, averaging 2.6 points and 2.1 rebounds in 2022-23. Then he exploded onto the national scene as a sophomore, when he became a unanimous first team All-Ivy selection as he led the Bulldogs to an NCAA Tournament berth and first-round upset over Auburn.
He followed that with All-Big Ten play last winter at Michigan.
"I was lucky to have great coaches along the way to help me develop and had a great two years at Yale and had an amazing year at Michigan," Wolf said. "I'm super thankful for everyone that's helped me get here."
In Ann Arbor, Wolf played in a formidable frontcourt alongside fellow 7-footer Vlad Goldin, who is also hoping to crack an NBA roster but who did not receive an NBA Draft green room invitation.
"At Michigan I played predominantly at the '4' and was in a bunch of ball screen actions and DHOs [dribble hand-offs] and played with another big and expanded my game in that sense," Wolf said.
"… At first, we had a lot of shooting and there was a bunch of spacing and you had a bunch of high-level guys around us that made it work. And then Vlad has some of the best hands and some of the best finishing in all of college basketball and it made everything so seamless."
The 2025 NBA Draft begins June 25 at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.