Michigan big man Morez Johnson has declared for the 2026 NBA draft while retaining his college eligibility, as Friday’s deadline for early entrants to declare for the 2026 NBA draft fast approaches, CBS’s Jon Rothstein reports (via Twitter).
The 6’9″ sophomore averaged 13.1 points, 7.3 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game with the Wolverines after transferring from Illinois, and knocked down 34.3% of his 35 three-point attempts on the season.
Johnson started every game for Michigan and was a big part of the team’s success, as exemplified by his 12-point, 10-rebound, 2-block performance in the national title victory over Connecticut.
The defensive big man is 27th on Jeremy Woo’s big board for ESPN and is slotted 24th in Jonathan Wasserman’s most recent mock draft for Bleacher Report, with Wasserman citing his combination of strength, versatile athleticism, and motor as reasons to be excited about him.
We have more draft notes:
- Dash Daniels, Adam Atamna, Michael Ruzic, and Mouhamed Faye have declined to enter the 2026 draft, Jonathan Givony of DraftExpress reports (via Twitter). Of the four, Daniels and Atamna were the highest-ranked players, with Daniels coming in at 49 on Woo’s board and 42 on Wasserman’s mock draft, and Atamna sitting at 58 for Woo and 40 for Wasserman. The younger brother of Atlanta’s Dyson Daniels, Dash is a good defender but struggled with his offense this season in the NBL, averaging 4.2 points and hitting just 37.9% of his free throws. Atamna is a 6’4″ guard out of ASVEL in France who showed potential as a shooter and a playmaker, averaging 8.1 points and 2.1 assists in 15.6 minutes per game. Ruzic, a 6’8″ power forward with Joventut in Spain, came in at 63 on ESPN’s big board after showing an improved three-point touch. Faye, a 6’9″ center for Paris, averaged 5.0 points, 4.9 rebounds, and 0.8 blocks in 14.9 minutes per game. Woo had him at 82, while Wasserman had him at 48.
- Bassala Bagayoko, a Malian big man out of Bilbao in Spain, has declared for the draft, his agents at Klutch Sports tell Jon Chepkevich of DraftExpress (Twitter link). The 6’9″ 19-year-old played 13.4 minutes per game this season in Liga ACB, averaging 4.3 points and 3.6 rebounds. He’s unranked by both Wasserman and Woo, but Chepkevich notes (via Twitter) that he holds a wingspan of at least 7’1″ and has a strong motor.
- Russian forward Vsevelod Ishchenko has declared for the draft, per Givony (Twitter link). Ishchenko averaged 8.5 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 2.2 assists in 22.8 minutes per game this season for Lokomotiv Kuban. While unranked by ESPN and Bleacher Report, Givony says that at 6’8″ with a 7’0″ wingspan, he offers an interesting combination of size and versatility at the wing.