Michigan Basketball: D.J. Wilson staying in 2017 NBA Draft
By Taylor Sturm
The Michigan Wolverines look prepared to navigate a wide-open Big Ten in 2017-18 but will have to do it without D.J. Wilson, who decided to remain in the 2017 NBA Draft.
Last season’s Michigan Wolverines defied the odds to go on a brilliant NCAA Tournament run and will enter the 2017-18 season thinking they can improve on that. However, their task will get a bit more difficult as D.J. Wilson decided to forgo his senior season and head off to the 2017 NBA Draft.
A 6’10, 240-pound forward out of Sacramento, CA, Wilson averaged 11 points per game, 5.3 rebounds per game, 1.3 assists per game, and 1.5 blocks per game over 30.4 minutes per game for the Wolverines last season. While just the fourth-leading scorer on the team, his contributions were massive on the defensive end and will be sorely missed heading into next season.
Wilson is expected to either go extremely late in the first round or sometime in the second-round. Many are speculating that his decision might have come from a promise by an NBA team to select him late in the first round, but you never know if an agent started that rumor in order to try and get teams to select him a bit sooner.
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While the decision by Wilson to remain in the NBA Draft will definitely hinder the Wolverines next season, Michigan will be flying high after learning that Moe Wagner will be staying in school for another season. Michigan just continues to rebuild, and the Big Ten needs to watch out.