Michigan Basketball: Moussa Diabate seems focused on NBA draft

We still don’t have any official word on Moussa Diabate or Caleb Houstan but Moussa seems like he’s headed to the NBA draft as he continues workouts. 

As the June 1 deadline approaches for players to withdraw their names from the 2022 NBA draft, we still haven’t heard anything one way or the other from Moussa Diabate or Caleb Houstan.

Both former five-star prospects quietly declared for the NBA draft but waited until the last possible moment to do so and didn’t announce it publicly until afterward.

It was kind of strange in today’s world of college basketball. Caleb Houstan still hasn’t talked about declaring for the draft and didn’t even put out a statement as Diabate did about the possibility of returning to Michigan basketball.

We have heard from a bunch of other draft hopefuls, such as potential transfer target Patrick Baldwin Jr. who will stay in the draft, but nothing from Houstan or Diabate.

It seems that both players are set on keeping their names in the draft. It’s hard to get a read because both camps have been so quiet but Houstan at least has been trending up in mock drafts and some believe he would be a late first or early second-round pick.

Will that be enough to get him to pass up his sophomore season at Michigan? Only he can answer if he’s comfortable with his draft stock, but there’s little doubt that if he returned and upped his game, he could be a lottery pick in 2023 or at least a higher first-round pick.

It seems more certain that Houstan would get drafted of the two. Diabate performed at the combine when Houstan didn’t and he’s continuing to work out with NBA teams. He was one of a number of players to work out with the Hawks on Monday.

That could be a sign that Diabate will keep his name in the draft or maybe he’s meeting with as many teams as possible to see what the conversation is before he makes his decision.

We really don’t know what will happen and we honestly didn’t even know he was going to commit to Michigan basketball until he did, so maybe he will surprise us all or maybe Houstan will, but right now, as we’ve said numerous times, it feels like Michigan will have two spots open June 1.