Michigan Basketball: Wolverines get transfer Tre Donaldson from Auburn

The Transfer Portal keeps churning out major changes on a daily basis and another came to pass on Sunday. After minimal playing time in his first two seasons, former Auburn player Tre Donaldson has opted to head to Michigan to continue his collegiate playing career.

A 6’2 point guard from Tallahassee, Donaldson heads to Ann Arbor after a pair of seasons with the Tigers in the SEC. He played in 67 games with Auburn, but only started briefly during his sophomore season. Donaldson didn’t see the court much as a freshman but has showed certain promise this past year.

He averaged 6.7 points, 3.2 assists, and 2.4 rebounds per game mostly as a reserve for the Tigers. In those opportunities, Donaldson has shown promise as a shooter and scorer, hitting 41% of his 3-pointers and 78% of his free throws. His metrics and numbers look pretty good when extrapolated further.

A season-high 15-point performance against UNC Asheville came back in December just a few days after dropping 10 points and 7 rebounds versus Indiana. Donaldson would make more than 50% of his 3-pointers in the month of March and was a factor off the bench in the Tigers’ SEC Tournament championship.

When you break it all down, Donaldson was not a starter, but the sophomore guard took a big step forward as a sophomore and might have that type of progression head again. He opted to transfer, looking for a bigger role and better fit and might have found it with Dusty May.

Donaldson lands at Michigan, hoping to grow his game and become a more complete player with the Wolverines. It’s likely that Donaldson factors into starting minutes in this backcourt. His shooting and assist numbers were tremendous in those opportunities, but what could happen in a full year as a starter?

He joins a Michigan program that fell apart last season but is already trending upwards, joining fellow transfers Rubin Jones and Danny Wolf as new faces for May and his staff next season. Time will tell if these choices will pay off, though it’s not difficult to see Donaldson developing into a sneaky good guard in the Big Ten.