Michigan Basketball: Will Charles Matthews stay or go to NBA Draft?
Michigan basketball is hoping to hear that Charles Matthews is returning in the next few days, instead of staying in the NBA draft.
Charles Matthews has taken his time in deciding whether to stay in the NBA draft or return to Michigan basketball. Well, the deadline is looming Wednesday and it’s getting harder to get a read on what Matthews will do.
Matthews was one of the best players throughout last season for Michigan basketball and stepped his game up even more in the NCAA tournament. After averaging 13 points a game and 5.5 rebounds, the junior entered his name into the draft but didn’t hire an agent.
Now, he has until May 30 to make a decision. For the most part, Matthews doesn’t seem to have generated a ton of interest. He was not invited to the NBA draft combine last month and has only a few workouts with teams.
However, Matthews recently worked out for the New York Knicks. That happened last week according to ESPN’s Knicks report Ian Begley.
Michigan guard Charles Matthews had a pre-draft workout for the Knicks, per his Instagram account.
— Ian Begley (@IanBegley) May 25, 2018
It’s possible for a team to really like Matthews and maybe convince him they would take him in the second round of the draft. Hopefully, he didn’t get any kind of promise from the Knicks, although teams don’t promise as much in the second round as the first. But it does happen.
It’s just strange that Matthews is waiting literally up to the deadline. At the start of this process, I was confident that he would return. It just seemed that his stock had so much room to grow. But now, I am getting uneasy.
Without Matthews, Michigan basketball won’t look nearly as formidable in 2018-19. UM would need some of the incoming freshmen to grow up right away. It would also need Jordan Poole and Isaiah Livers to become stars. It’s certainly possible, but with Matthews ability to score, defend and rebound, he would be hard to replace.
It was one thing to lose Moe Wagner. That was a given. He was just too good and too close to leaving last season not to bolt for the NBA. That was understandable. Matthews, on the other hand, is different.
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If he stays in the draft, there is a good chance he doesn’t get drafted. We could certainly be wrong, but it seems like a big risk to take. And more than that, as a Michigan fan, it would be a big blow to UM’s roster if Matthews takes that leap of faith.