Four Questions for Nets Forward Danny Wolf Before His Rookie Season

Danny Wolf’s slide in the 2025 NBA Draft allowed the Brooklyn Nets to draft him with the No. 27 overall pick.

Wolf played in three Summer League games for Brooklyn. He averaged 10 points, 7.3 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 3.3 turnovers, 1.0 steals, and 2.0 blocks per game. Those figures came on shooting splits of 39.1% from the field, 40% from three (on 3.3 attempts per game) and 66.7% from the free throw line.

Here are four questions that the former Michigan forward has to address in his rookie season for the Nets:

On defense, it will be about seeing who and how Wolf defends. The 21-year-old measures at just under 7 feet in shoes; however, he doesn’t play like a big on either end. At Michigan, Wolf was insulated by the presence of true center Vladislav Goldin alongside him. A similar arrangement could happen in Brooklyn with Nic Claxton or, although smaller, Day’Ron Sharpe. Wolf will need to prove that he can move his feet in front of smaller ballhandlers — guards and wings alike — while remaining productive enough defending the pick-and-roll.

Wolf’s three-point percentage is worth paying close attention to. His Summer League marks were very good, but on small volume (4-for-10 from deep). Last season at Michigan, Wolf cashed in on 33.6% of his 113 attempted threes. That actually falls in line perfectly with his three-year average in college of 33.6%. Notably, Wolf made 41% of his 39 ‘unguarded’ threes, per Synergy, but that figure dips to 29.1% on his 55 ‘guarded’ threes.

The Nets’ rookie forward made a lot of decisions in college, but he needs to keep watching how he balances his assists and turnovers. Wolf’s assist-to-turnover ratio last season was 1.1. That should’ve probably been higher given his 25.2 USG% and the 231 pick-and-roll ball-handling possessions he received. Wolf’s decision-making at the NBA level probably won’t need to be as complex, but it will need to be snappier.

That leads to the final question about Wolf. At Michigan, he was a do-it-all forward who was tasked with dribbling, passing and shooting. He did all of those things well, but evidently not to the extent where NBA teams felt like they had to snatch him up before No. 27. Now that he’s with the Nets, will Wolf continue to expand on those tools, or will he play more of a connective role?