Dusty May is aware of the track record—or lack thereof—for college basketball coaches leaping to the NBA.
But he had something his preps-to-pros predecessors didn’t: an NCAA landscape that nearly mirrors the pros, giving him an advantage they didn’t possess.
“The last five years of the NIL era is a segue into the NBA,” May said during his introductory press conference with the Mavericks on Monday. “We weren’t coaching professional players per se where they’re under contract. But they were getting paid. The same problems, not at the same scale, but similar problems, similar issues, similar challenges. The game is closer than ever. College, NBA, the G League. Stylistically they all look very, very similar.”
May was hired on June 22 after leading the Wolverines to the national championship in April. At the Final Four in Indianapolis, he said he would not seek any other college jobs, which first began speculation that he was interested in the NBA.
Michigan AD Warde Manuel said at the team’s on-campus championship celebration a few days later that he and May agreed to a new deal. The head coach, however, told Front Office Sports later in the month that he wouldn’t sign it until July, calling it “a formality.”
