NBA Draft 2017: Michigan’s D.J. Wilson not invited to green room
By Zac Snyder
The NBA released their list of 20 2017 NBA Draft prospects who will be in Brooklyn on draft night and Michigan’s D.J. Wilson is not among them.
When D.J. Wilson decided to stay in the 2017 NBA Draft rather than to return to the Michigan basketball team for another year, the thinking was that he was satisfied with his chances of being drafted in the first round.
That may turn out to be true when the draft takes place Thursday night, but Wilson isn’t in the list of 20 prospects who will be in attendance at the draft.
Of course, the list of 20 accounts for only two-thirds of the total first round picks and there is no guarantee that all 20 will even be first rounders. However, it wouldn’t be wrong to see the list as a proxy for who the league office thinks will be the first 20 off the board, or at least the 20 players most likely to be top-20 picks.
The 20 2017 NBA Draft prospects who did receive green room invites are as follows:
OG Anunoby (Indiana)
Bam Adebayo (Kentucky)
Jarrett Allen (Texas)
Lonzo Ball (UCLA)
John Collins (Wake Forest)
Zach Collins (Gonzaga)
De’Aaron Fox (Kentucky)
Markelle Fultz (Washington)
Jonathan Isaac (Florida State)
Josh Jackson (Kansas)
Justin Jackson (North Carolina)
Luke Kennard (Duke)
T.J. Leaf (UCLA)
Lauri Markkanen (Arizona)
Donovan Mitchell (Louisville)
Malik Monk (Kentucky)
Frank Ntilikina (France)
Justin Patton (Creighton)
Dennis Smith (N.C. State)
Jayson Tatum (Duke)
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Not being in the green room shouldn’t be seen as an ominous sign for Wilson. Most mock drafts have Wilson in the first round, albeit after the first 20 picks. In the end, that generally means going to a better team with a more stable situation.