It was an eventful evening for former Wolverines at the 2026 NBA Draft tonight with Aday Mara, Morez Johnson Jr. and Yaxel Lendeborg all being selected in the first 12 picks of the draft.
All three players spent one year in Ann Arbor and helped Michigan win a Big Ten and National Championship in one of the program’s best seasons ever. It’s the second time in program history that three Wolverines were selected in the first round of the draft (1990: Rumeal Robinson, Loy Vaught, and Terry Mills all went in the top 16). The Wolverines are the third team to have three lottery picks in one draft along with 2007 Florida and 2010 Kentucky.
Johnson was the first player off the board, selected No. 9 overall by Dallas where he’ll reunite with Dusty May. Johnson set the physicality for Michigan on a nightly basis and averaged 13.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.2 assists per game in his sophomore year at Michigan.
Lendeborg was off the board next at No. 11, selected by the Golden State Warriors. Lendeborg decided to attend Michigan for his final season of college basketball rather than enter the draft last season, when he was projected as a late first-round pick. Instead, he climbed all the way into the lottery and was the foundational piece of a national title run in Ann Arbor. He averaged 15.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 3.2 assists per game and was an All-American. He
Mara was the final player off the board, selected No. 12 overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder. Mara averaged 12.1 points, 6.8 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game, anchoring the No. 1 defense in college basketball.
The trio of Wolverines coming off the board in the lottery brings Dusty May’s tally to four drafted players in two years. May is also off to the NBA after those two seasons, accepting the Dallas Mavericks head coaching job on Monday.
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DMB43
Just an awesome day for these dudes! No one fell and all went to great spots! They deserve it. Michigan legends forever
JD1
Seeing 3 Wolverines going 9, 11, & 12 and Dusty celebrating them sure didn’t feel as good as I thought it would 48 hours ago. I’m still really happy for them but the free advertising for what Dusty could do for players considering Michigan would’ve been really nice.
umhoops
Was an awesome group. I feel like one of the really cool parts of the season was how much it seemed like each of them enjoyed the season, grew up on the court, grew up off the court, and just seemed happier. Was fun to watch.
Slyboogie
Dusty going with Morez, not that surprising actually.
vanarbor
Dusty aggressively (psychotically) clapping after both Yax and Aday went off the board was pretty jarring - scared me for a moment lol
Looked a lot like he was mad but I rewinded and I think he’s yelling “h*** yeah” in Ben McCollum’s face