The following is part of Raptors Republic’s series of pieces previewing the 2025 NBA draft. You can find all the pieces in the series here.
Before I get into the scouting on Danny Wolf, I want to talk shop about the draft a little bit. As we know, there is a lot of smoke around prospects this time of year. By the time this piece goes up, we’ll be on the morning of the draft, and I’m sure that trade rumours will be swirling. Even as I’m writing this there’s a lot of noise around Toronto and Brooklyn potentially cooking up a deal, and I think that outcome could be pretty feasible considering Brooklyn now holds a surplus of picks and the Raptors have reportedly been shopping RJ Barrett – and long held an interest in Cam Johnson.
As it stands, I’m pretty much expecting Toronto to draft Noa Essengue if they stay put at 9th overall. Essengue not-so-discreetly name dropped three Raptors stars when asked who he models his game after, and it was revealed that Toronto flew him in for a “super secret workout” according to ESPN’s Jonathan Givony (great job keeping that secret). The smoke is starting to look like a fire.
BUT – Toronto’s been active on the phones. It’s no secret that they’re trying to make moves, and they’ve also been adamant that they would prefer to use their picks on players who can contribute sooner rather than later. Picking a multi-year project like Essengue definitely goes against that messaging.
I’ve had my own sources tell me that Toronto really values Danny Wolf — higher than consensus ranges around the league would suggest. I’m not so bold to suggest that they’re targeting him at 9th overall (though they very well could if they’re as high on him as I’m hearing), but if Toronto does end up committing to a trade-down with say, the Brooklyn Nets, then there would be no doubt in my mind that Danny Wolf would be one of their top names at say, the 19th or 22nd pick in a hypothetical move back in this draft.
Hence why I felt it necessary to write about Wolf today. I think we could be in for a lot of movement in this year’s draft, and it only makes sense to cover all bases related to prospects who could find themselves in a Raptors uniform very soon. Not saying Wolf’s a guarantee, but what’s the harm in a little draft day education.
It’s draft day, let’s get weird.
Danny Wolf – 6’11 Big (Point Guard???) – University of Michigan – Age: 21
The Offence
Wolf is a fascinating prospect in part because he’s the size of a true centre, yet has elite footwork and handles the ball with the grace and skill of a guard. Wolf uses his skills as a mismatch nightmare, dribbling circles around opposing bigs while being able to post-up on smaller defenders and shoot over them.
Wolf’s ball-handling is silky smooth and he possesses a rather deep bag of moves such as crossovers and hesitations that allow him to throw opposing defenders off or get to the rim with ease. He’s even shown an impressive ability to splash some step-back threes. Once Wolf gets to the rim, he struggles. His below average finishing is a major red flag for a player of his size, though he has soft touch around the rim.
Wolf’s playmaking is another aspect of his game that makes him stand out among his peers. He often played point guard at Michigan, and had countless highlight level passes to his teammates. Wolf can get a little thrown off when multiple defenders are thrown at him, which can lead to an unfortunately high turnover count, but playing more under control in the NBA will allow him to thrive as a playmaker. Though they weren’t particularly efficient, the Wolverines ran many pick-and-rolls with Wolf as the ball handler.
Wolf’s shot is repeatable and smooth, yet hasn’t produced the results one would expect from a face up big. He’s not afraid of shooting volume, and he has had a lot of success shooting off the dribble. Wolf’s on-ball creation and shooting abilities are skills that many bigs in the NBA never even get close to attaining. In that regard he’s truly unique, but he obviously needs to become more efficient if he wants to make the most of his skillset.
Getting more comfortable taking and making shots from all ranges and learning to control his volume should help his development as a scorer. Wolf needs to gain confidence in general, as he’s at his best when he’s in his zone, utilizing his unique blend of size and skill. When he’s pressured, he gets frustrated which leads to mistakes.
The Defence
Wolf hustles hard on the defensive end. He rebounds, hunts for blocks, and rotates well. His weaknesses become more apparent when asked to switch on the perimeter, where his lack of lateral quickness can burn him. I wouldn’t expect him to get played off the floor defensively unless teams continually hunt him on the perimeter. I’m not as worried about his stoutness on the interior.
Playing Wolf alongside rangy and defensive minded wings would help hide his weaknesses best, and luckily the Raptors have a few of those players.
The Fit
The Raptors absolutely love their dribble-pass-shoot guys, especially bigs who are able to operate that skillset in some capacity. Much as fans have been clamouring for a defensive-minded, maybe more traditional rim running big to succeed Jakob Poeltl in the long term, Wolf definitely fits a role that the Raptors love utilizing.
Of course, the Raptors add another elite playmaker at a unique position to their ball-movement offence. Wolf is capable of playing point during some stretches, which will open up an entirely new universe of versatility for Darko’s lineups and play calling.
The more I scouted him, the more that I found myself daydreaming about how fun it would be to have a dribble-pass-shoot big like Wolf playing alongside players like Scottie Barnes and Brandon Ingram, with players like Jakobe Walter and Gradey Dick providing spacing on the perimeter. Multi-positional and versatile lineups that just scream potential? Sign me up.
The Conclusion
Expected Pick Range: 9-20. Like I mentioned above, Wolf makes a lot of sense as a trade-down target since his range seems to be heavily concentrated in the 15-20 area of the first round. However if Toronto feels like getting a little goofy on draft night and surprising everyone with how high they are on the Wolverine big man, then his range projects to be a hell of a lot wider. Wolf’s been one of this class’ prolific risers, from a mid second round pick to light lottery buzz in the span of a few months.
Brendan’s Big Board: I’ve got Danny Wolf as the 15th prospect in this year’s class (a couple spots above Noa Essengue, actually), and I wasn’t expecting to rank him so high after initially being lower on him. I think he makes a lot of sense as a guy to target in the mid teens of this class just due to how much of an outlier his skillset is for his position, even with his deficiencies as a player. Those deficiencies, combined with the glut of talented players at the top end of this year’s class, make it difficult to rank Wolf much higher, but I still really like him as a prospect and think his ceiling can be sky-high in the right system. He’s an incredibly fun player to watch, and I would support the idea of trading down to pick him alongside another first rounder.
