Michigan Basketball: Why Iggy Should Come Back to the Wolverines

Michigan Basketball’s Ignas Brazdeikis declared for the NBA and hired an agent, and yet it might not be the end for Iggy at Michigan.

The Big Ten Freshman of the Year Ignas Brazdeikis told ESPN he is declaring for the NBA draft and hiring an agent after one year with the Michigan Basketball team. While normally this is a sure sign the guys gone, the NCAA changed the rule – even if you hire an agent you can still come back to play ball.

Rules aside, Iggy seemed pretty sure of his NBA future.

"“As long as I can remember, I’ve wanted to be an NBA player — not just an NBA player, but an NBA All-Star, my intent is to be drafted this year as high as I can be and start my journey.”"

Mock Draft

But is he considering that he might not get drafted?

Has he been looking at mock drafts?

According to nbadraft.net, Iggy isn’t listed in either round.

Sports Illustrated puts Iggy all the way down to the 54th pick.

ESPN has the Wolverine star top 100 drops Iggy down to 48th best player available.

For comparison’s sake, let’s look at another Michigan man who decided to stay the extra year and what happened to him.

At 14.8 points per game – the same exact points-per-game as Iggy –  Trey Burke was a monster for Michigan during the 2011-2012 year, his freshman season. He returned and exploded onto the draft boards averaging 18.6 points per game, all because he played one more year for the Michigan Basketball team.

Had Trey been a one-and-done, he might have gone undrafted and potentially playing in the NBA’s G League. He made the right move and raised his draft stock up so high he was selected in the first round as the ninth overall pick.

On top of raising his draft stock, should Iggy leave now he would be throwing millions down the drain.

To determine how many millions, we will again turn to Burke for the answers.

Show Me The Money

After being drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves, Trey was traded to the Utah Jazz who gave Burke a maxed out rookie contract which included a reported $2,438,760 in the first year of the four-year deal.

Currently, the maxed out rookie contract for the ninth pick in the draft is actually much higher, somewhere between three to three and a half million dollars.

So if Iggy does get drafted and is selected in the second round, let’s say at number 46 – where he is listed by ESPN – we can look to last years draft to see how much money he would be losing out on.

With the 46th pick in the 2018 NBA draft, the Houston Rockets selected De’Anthony Melton. Melton’s salary for the 2018/19 season is a reported $949,000.

If Iggy stays and improves like he should – just as so many have done before him – he could cash in over $3,500,000. If he leaves now, he could be losing out on $2,551,000 (3,500,00 – 949,000 = 2,551,000).

Or even worse, if he goes where Sports Illustrated has him at the 54th spot, he would be making just slightly more than your average office worker. The 54th pick for the 2018 NBA draft was Shake Melton. Shake signed a two-way contract and is making a reported $77,250 a year with maximum potential earnings of $385,000 a year.

What Shaq Has To Say

Shaquille O’Neal is one of the best businessmen in the world with a net worth somewhere upwards of 400 million dollars.

In 2013, Dr. O’Neal sat down at the NCAA convention and talked about the one-and-done situation.

"“A lot of guys do it because of their financial situation and they need to do it. That’s the only way to provide a better means for their family. So when you look at it from that aspect, I understand it.”"

What I take that to mean is if you’re broke get paid and if you can afford it, stay awhile and develop.

He went on to say that if he were in charge he would try and change to rule to make sure guys stay at least three years.

What Other Experts Are Saying

The same year Shaq spoke at the NCAA Convention, Kentucky’s head coach John Calipari told ESPN’s Brett McMurphy he thinks the rule should be changed to at least two years before college players can make the NBA jump.

Dukes head coach Mike Krzyzewski is also in favor of staying for two years; however, he also favors allowing high school student the opportunity to skip the college experience altogether to go pro.

The NBA commissioner agrees with the Kentucky head coach in that he wants the minimum age raised to 20 years old for players to become draft eligible.

NBA great and former Auburn Tiger Charles Barkley went on ESPN’s pardon the interruption and said: “I wish we can find a way to keep college basketball players in college longer.”

Michigan Basketball’s John Beilein

Michigan Basketball’s head coach John Beilein told reporters during last years tournament his thoughts on one-and-done players and the recruiting process.

“We’ve just got to make sure that guys are playing college basketball for the right reasons. It’s a destination. It’s an experience in your life you’ll never have again”

An experience that Michigan Basketball’s star freshman needs to take in for another year.

Fire the Agent

Iggy is going to be told his situation is much better than what is laid out here, but it’s not. If he becomes coach Beilein’s first one-and-done, he might suffer the same fate as Rodney White and Anthony Bennett; or he could return to Michigan Basketball, work on his game, and make the millions he deserves next off-season.

The ball is in your court now, Iggy.