Michigan basketball: It’s deadline day for Moritz Wagner, D.J. Wilson
By Zac Snyder
Michigan basketball players Moritz Wagner and D.J. Wilson have until midnight tonight to decide between the 2017 NBA Draft and returning to school.
It might be a nervous day for John Beilein and the rest of the Michigan basketball program as deadline day for underclassmen to pull out of the 2017 NBA Draft has arrived.
Both Moritz Wagner and D.J. Wilson declared for the draft following last season, but retained the ability to return to school by not signing with an agent.
One or the other has sometimes been named as a late first round pick in mock drafts, but nothing that suggests a first round lock for either player. Only players drafted in the first round enter the league with any sort of contract guarantees, making a first round grade the deciding factor for many players as they decide whether to stay in the draft or return to school in hopes of improving their stock for the following year.
But being an older prospect in the draft can be seen as a negative from the NBA side of things. Both players are coming off breakout seasons for the Michigan Wolverines and could feel that it’s time to strike while the iron is hot, so to speak.
Getting even one of Wagner or Wilson back would be a major boost to the Wolverines’ hopes for the next college basketball season. They already face the task of replacing Derrick Walton Jr., not only at point guard but as a leader on the floor. Though Wagner and Wilson are frontcourt players, they are the sort of productive veterans that could help fill the leadership void left by Walton’s graduation.
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Having declared for the draft, the default “no action” result would see Wagner and Wilson staying in the draft, thus ending their careers in Ann Arbor. However, we should get some kind of announcement from both players one way or the other at some point Wednesday.