Danny Wolf is a first-round prospect

Aesthetically, Danny Wolf is not the shining picture of a future professional, however, what he brings to the court off-sets that by a wide margin.

Danny Wolf (photo via Junfu Han/Detroit Free Press)

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Lately, there’s been a trend with bigs who don’t fit the aesthetic of the NBA getting underdrafted. What does that mean, though, the “aesthetic of the NBA?” To put it simply, players are expected to look athletic.

Danny Wolf doesn’t.

Now, that’s far from a knock, as I’m about to pile praise onto the 7-foot Michigan junior big man. On film, though, he’s kind of got that Alperen Şengün looks to him — a little doughy with seemingly lower hips and a less-than-alien wingspan.

There’s no way to prove it definitively, but if I had to put money into it, the surface-level aesthetics of Wolf might be part of why he hasn’t found his way onto mainstream big boards quite yet, and ultimately, into the first round where I believe he belongs.

In Bleacher Report’s Dec. 5th mock draft, Wolf ranked 47th. In The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie’s top-100 rankings, which dropped on Dec. 3rd, Wolf was nowhere to be found. More recently than the other two examples, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony dropped his top-100 rankings on Dec. 10th, and Wolf was there … down at 68th.

On my own top-75 board, which came out on Dec. 6th, I had Wolf as a top-25 prospect in the entire 2025 class. So, clearly, there’s a difference in opinion that deserves defense.