Michigan’s Dickinson enters draft, leaves option to return

Michigan center Hunter Dickinson (1) dunks the ball over UCLA forward Cody Riley, left, and guard Jaime Jaquez Jr., right, during the first half of an Elite 8 game in the NCAA men's college basketball tournament at Lucas Oil Stadium, Tuesday, March 30, 2021, in Indianapolis. (AP Photo/Michael Conroy) (Michael Conroy, Copyright 2021 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. – Michigan freshman center Hunter Dickinson has entered the NBA draft while giving himself the option of staying in school.

Dickinson made the announcement on social media on Wednesday. Dickinson earned second-team All-America, Big Ten’s Freshman of the Year and all-conference honors last season.

Recommended Videos



Dickinson, who is from Alexandria, Virginia, helped the Wolverines reach as high as No. 2 in The Associated Press Top25 and finish No. 4 after a 19-3 regular season. The team led by coach of the year Juwan Howard fell one game short of the Final Four, losing to UCLA by two points.

The 7-foot-1, 255-pound Dickinson averaged team highs in points (14.1), rebounds (7.4) and blocks (1.4) during the pandemic-shortened season.

The Wolverines are losing sophomore Franz Wagner along with Isaiah Livers, Mike Smith, Chaundee Brown and Austin Davis from this year’s team. Eli Brooks is coming back, taking advantage of an extra year of eligibility the NCAA is allowing due to the pandemic.

The NBA draft is July 29.

___

More AP college basketball: https://apnews.com/hub/College-basketball and https://twitter.com/AP_Top25