{"id":733861,"date":"2026-05-14T04:51:15","date_gmt":"2026-05-14T04:51:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/733861\/"},"modified":"2026-05-14T04:51:15","modified_gmt":"2026-05-14T04:51:15","slug":"morez-johnson-jr-speaks-up-on-potential-michigan-return-during-nba-draft-process","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/733861\/","title":{"rendered":"Morez Johnson Jr. speaks up on potential Michigan return during NBA Draft process"},"content":{"rendered":"

Morez Johnson Jr. speaks up on potential Michigan return during NBA Draft process<\/a> appeared first on ClutchPoints<\/a>. Add ClutchPoints as a Preferred Source by clicking here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Michigan basketball<\/a> reached the top of the mountain last season, winning the national title at the end of a dominant March Madness. run. The talent on that Michigan team will get all of the love on NBA Draft night<\/a>, with three potential lottery picks coming off the board from the Maize and Blue.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

One of those potential lottery picks is big man Morez Johnson Jr.<\/a> The Illinois transfer emerged as a key cog in the Michigan machine this season, spending time at both power forward and center during the season.<\/p>\n

While Johnson is still going through the NBA Draft process, the door is still open for him to return to Ann Arbor for another season. On Wednesday at the NBA Combine, Johnson told Andy Katz that he hasn\u2019t thought about<\/a> his decision just yet.<\/p>\n

\u201cTo be honest, I haven\u2019t even talked to my agents about that,\u201d Johnson said. \u201cI\u2019ve just been focused on this right here, the combine, the task at hand, performing my best and showing everybody what I can do. Then I\u2019ll talk to [my agents] and see what they say, and they\u2019ll give me their best advice. That\u2019s what I hired my agents for, so I\u2019m gonna trust them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Johnson started his college career at Illinois, contributing mostly in a bench role in 2024-25 for Brad Underwood. However, when he transferred to Michigan, he became a star and an impact player on both ends of the floor.<\/p>\n

The 6-foot-9 big man played all 40 games for Michigan last season, averaging just over 25 minutes a night. He averaged 13.1 points and 7.3 rebounds per game on 62.3% shooting from the floor, making him an intriguing prospect in this draft.<\/p>\n

Johnson is a solid finisher at the rim, but it\u2019s his athleticism and versatility that really makes him an intriguing pro prospect. He is able to guard multiple positions, including out on the perimeter, and is a dynamic roller and rim-runner as a result.<\/p>\n

It still feels overwhelmingly likely that Johnson will remain in the NBA Draft and be a lottery pick<\/a>. However, that won\u2019t stop Michigan fans from dreaming of a return.<\/p>\n

Advertisement<\/p>\n

Related: Allen Graves reveals 2 schools trying to influence NBA Draft decision<\/a><\/p>\n

Related: Yaxel Lendeborg gets real about Cooper Flagg amid potential Mavericks future<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Morez Johnson Jr. speaks up on potential Michigan return during NBA Draft process appeared first on ClutchPoints. Add…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733862,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[7,1187,1739,2053,6,8203],"class_list":["post-733861","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-basketball","tag-johnson","tag-michigan","tag-morez-johnson-jr","tag-nba","tag-nba-combine"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116571136563561696","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733861","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733861"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733861\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733862"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733861"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733861"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733861"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}