Report: DeVante’ Jones withdraws from NBA Draft, will arrive at Michigan on Monday night

DeVante’ Jones has not yet officially been announced as an addition to the Michigan Wolverines men’s basketball program, but it appears that is coming. Andrew Kahn of MLive reported Monday morning that Jones has taken himself out of the 2021 NBA Draft process and will be on campus later in the evening.

Jones elected to go through the process of grabbing feedback before making a final decision on his future. It had always been expected that spending a year at Michigan would be the final call.

“The relationship I built with Juwan Howard throughout the whole process (is why I committed),” he said last month. “He just understood the position that I was in. I told him that, when I did commit there, I wanted to still declare for the (NBA) draft, just to get some feedback and see where I was at.”

Jones averaged 19.3 points, 7.2 rebounds, 2.9 assists and 2.8 steals per game last season at Coastal Carolina en route to being named the Sun Belt’s player of the year. He will compete with sophomore Zeb Jackson and true freshman Frankie Collins for minutes in the backcourt for Michigan this upcoming season.

Our Daniel Dash took a look at his game after he committed back in May. Here is a snippet of what he brings to the table:

With Jones, it’s important to understand he took on different roles during his last two seasons at Coastal Carolina. He averaged a career-best 5.7 assists as a junior after stepping into a primary facilitator role, though he turned the ball over 3.4 times per game. But when he was asked to become a dominant scorer rather than a passer as a senior, his assists average plummeted to 2.9 per game as his scoring totals rose to career-high marks.

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That leaves Jones competing with incoming freshman Frankie Collins for primary point guard duties. Jones’ junior year form at Coastal Carolina, when he averaged nearly six assists, best fits the Wolverines’ personnel next season. With Brooks, Hunter Dickinson and Caleb Houstan around him, there will be significantly less pressure on Jones to score. Look for Jones to work out of ball screens and other half-court sets to create open looks for teammates.

Stephen Osentoski also put out a scouting report on Jones in video form: