‘A Seven-Foot Point Guard’: Dusty May Reflects On Coaching Brooklyn Nets’ Danny Wolf At Michigan
DALLAS — Danny Wolf played for Mavericks coach Dusty May at Michigan in 2024-25, May’s first season in Ann Arbor. On Sunday night, Wolf and the Brooklyn Nets visit May’s Dallas Mavericks at American Airlines Center.
Wolf is 9-of-19 from three-point range in four games for Brooklyn this season. May credits him for having the skills, with Michigan supplying the right pieces and plan around him.
“Just proud of Danny,” May said. “When we got him, he was an Ivy League five man, and by necessity, we essentially turned him into a seven-foot point guard. And so it’s been, and credit to him. He had the skills. We just had the right pieces around him and the right plan around him that fit.”
“But he loves ball. He’s a hard worker. Very happy for success,” May continued. “Happy that he’s got back in the rotation the last couple games. They’re kind of like us, where they’ve been experimenting with different lineups and different combinations, but he’s played well. He’s shooting the basketball well.”
“If he shoots it at the same clip he’s been shooting at, he’ll have a very, very good NBA career,” May added. “But it’s his playmaking. He does a little bit of everything. But he’s someone that I’ve become really close with, and very, very happy that he’s playing in the NBA.”
Wolf grew up in Glencoe, Illinois, and played two seasons at Yale before transferring to Michigan in April 2024. The Wolverines won the Big Ten Tournament and reached the Sweet 16 in his only season there. Brooklyn drafted him 27th overall the following June, then sent him to the Long Island Nets of the G League for stretches of his rookie year.
Danny Wolf Cracked The Brooklyn Nets’ Rotation Against The Charlotte Hornets
This season, Wolf did not play in Brooklyn’s Oct. 21 opener against the Charlotte Hornets and has appeared in four of the Nets’ nine games, with one start. He is averaging 9.8 points, 5.8 rebounds, and 1.8 assists in 19.3 minutes while shooting 52.0% from the field and 47.4% from three-point range. Basketball-Reference lists him at 6-foot-11 and 250 pounds.
Wolf had sat out five of Brooklyn’s first seven games and did not play in the first half against Charlotte on Nov. 4. When Nets coach Jordi Fernández called his name after halftime, he finished plus-17 in a 114-104 win.
“Obviously in the NBA, there’s gonna be times, especially early in your career, that you might not be in the rotation, and that was the case when we started the year,” Wolf said. “Everyone emphasizes and preaches that you have to be ready, and you hear it over and over, just make sure you’re doing all your work and doing all of the things to make sure that when your name gets called, you’re ready.”
Michael Porter Jr., who is averaging a team-high 21.8 points, closed the Charlotte win on the floor alongside Wolf. Afterward, Porter said he has considered Wolf a special player since he got to Brooklyn.
“Danny coming in and contributing right away like that,” Porter said, “that takes a lot of readiness and a lot of discipline to not play for so many games and come in in the second half and to contribute the way he did. I mean, I always thought Danny was a special player, and I’ve said that since he got here. I think he can do so many things at the basketball court, and I’m really happy that he got the opportunity.”
Michigan Ties On Both Benches
Dallas took Morez Johnson Jr. ninth overall in June, months after he won the 2025-26 national championship playing for May at Michigan. Mavericks two-way wing Jett Howard played his lone college season at Michigan in 2022-23 for his father, Juwan Howard, now a Nets assistant coach. Moritz Wagner, who is averaging 10.2 points off Brooklyn’s bench, played three seasons at Michigan before entering the NBA in 2018.
Wolf made his first start of the season Saturday against the Atlanta Hawks, the first night of Brooklyn’s back-to-back. He had 11 points and 10 rebounds in 31 minutes, including a 3-pointer with 1.5 seconds left. The Hawks rallied from 17 points down to win 124-121, dropping the Nets to 2-7.
Fernández brought Wolf off the bench in his other three appearances, with Julius Randle and Day’Ron Sharpe starting in the frontcourt. Randle is averaging 20.8 points.
Dallas has won 56 of the 90 all-time meetings with the Nets franchise, including all three last season. Sunday’s game tips off at 6:30 p.m. CT on KFAA29 and 105.3 The Fan. The rematch is Dec. 16 at Barclays Center.
