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Text message shows Michigan big man Danny Wolf predicted NBA Draft dream would come true

clayton-sayfieby: Clayton Sayfie07/01/25CSayf23
Danny Wolf draft
Michigan Wolverines basketball big man Danny Wolf was picked in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft. (Photo by Brad Penner-Imagn Images)

Michigan Wolverines basketball big man Danny Wolf saw his dream come true last week, with the Brooklyn Nets selecting him No. 27 overall in the first round of the 2025 NBA Draft.

The seven-footer’s journey is unique. The Glencoe, Ill., native was a late-bloomer, having stood 6-foot-3 as a high school freshman, and didn’t garner big-time interest as a recruit out of Northfield Mount Herman in Gill, Mass. He considered walking on to Michigan but chose to play at Yale, where he played sparingly as a freshman (7.4 minutes per game).

It wasn’t until summer 2023 when Wolf really broke out, playing with the Israel national team at the 2023 FIBA U-20 European Championships in Greece. He led Israel to a silver medal, posting a team-best 17.7 points and tournament-high 12 rebounds per game with five double-doubles in the event.

Helping Yale to an NCAA Tournament round of 32 appearance in 2023-24, Wolf averaged 14.1 points and 9.7 rebounds per contest, before transferring to Michigan in 2024-25 and breaking out on an even bigger stage while playing alongside another seven-footer in Vladislav Goldin.

In the offseason prior to his year at Michigan, Wolf worked out with trainer Stanley Boateng. As documented by Boateng following the draft, Wolf sent a text last summer that predicted he would be selected by an NBA team this year.

“Just watch,” Wolf began in a sequence of messages. “I’m going to be an NBA player next year.

“Remember this text.”

In another set of messages, Wolf told Boateng that he was “staring to like really love this basketball shit.”

Wolf, who was in the green room at the NBA Draft in Brooklyn and selected lower than many analysts predicted, said he’ll use his draft placement as motivation. The work begins now for his NBA career, but being picked at all is what he called a “dream come true.”

“I don’t think where you’re drafted defines you,” Wolf added. “It’s just the start of getting into the league.

“It’s kind of been my basketball journey thus far, is just kind of having to go step by step. Was under-recruited out of high school — unranked, so to speak. Yale took a chance on me; didn’t play much. Was there for two years. Went to Michigan, and I still don’t think people believed in me.

“Now I’m here and just have so much to prove and super excited to get to work. But just going to use that as a chip on my shoulder.”

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