mock drafts<\/a> have all three players in the top half of the first round, but the Pistons could certainly use any of them.<\/p>\nLendeborg would provide a scoring punch to complement Cade Cunningham while not needing to be ball dominant. Johnson could replace Tobias Harris in time and grow into the starting 4 for the team. Even Mara would provide excellent insurance should Detroit not retain Jalen Duren or trade away Isaiah Stewart.<\/p>\n
If we take the home team out of the equation, there are still several excellent spots the former Wolverines could end up in.<\/p>\n
Mara is one of the best passing center prospects the NBA has seen in years. It would be fun to watch him in Steve Kerr\u2019s offense in Golden State. Similarly, Mara would be an excellent bench option for the Denver Nuggets. While he\u2019s certainly no Jokic, Denver\u2019s entire scheme revolves around its big men being able to pass the ball. Even a team such as the Memphis Grizzlies would be an intriguing fit for Mara since they have slashers up and down their roster.<\/p>\n
For Johnson, the San Antonio Spurs would be the dream scenario in my eyes. He could be the bruising, rebound-first big man who could help keep Victor Wembanyama clean. Johnson also screams \u201cMiami Heat culture\u201d to me when it comes to the intangibles.<\/p>\n
Lendeborg has become a bit of a lightning rod in NBA Draft circles. His stock has slipped slightly thanks to a nagging injury, as well as his age. He is one of the most \u201cplug-and-play\u201d prospects in this draft, but the NBA loves upside. Lendeborg is likely closer to his ceiling already than many of the other projected lottery picks. However, I would love to see him be taken by a team like the Spurs as well.<\/p>\n
The most common location for Lendeborg in NBA mocks drafts, by far, is the Oklahoma City Thunder. As a team in win-now mode, taking an experienced, high-floor player like Lendeborg makes a ton of sense. However, as a fan, I don\u2019t want to see him be corrupted by the Thunder players and their flopping factory.<\/p>\n
Where do you want to see Mara, Johnson and Lendeborg get drafted? Which do you think will go off the board first? Is there a chance any slip to Detroit at No. 21? Let us know your thoughts in the comments below.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"There\u2019s no doubt the 2025-2026 Michigan Wolverines had a successful season. For some, what feels like the bow…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":714633,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[15701,15702,38968,355,99],"class_list":["post-714632","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-michigan-mens-basketball","tag-michigan-mens-basketball-analysis","tag-michigan-mens-basketball-opinion","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714632","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=714632"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/714632\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/714633"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=714632"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=714632"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=714632"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}