If Michigan basketball is going to land its standout wing from the transfer portal, it will have to wait.
Former Wake Forest standout Juke Harris, the Wolverines’ top remaining target, declared for the 2026 NBA Draft back in March while at the same time entering the transfer portal.
There’s still a belief that Harris could opt to return to college, in which case he will be deciding between his top three remaining teams: Michigan, North Carolina and Tennessee.
It’s essentially the inverse of how Yaxel Lendeborg handled his decision last year − making it known if he returned to college he would play at Michigan, then testing draft waters before ultimately coming to Ann Arbor.
Harris took a visit to the facilities on Friday, April 10, one day before Michigan celebrated its national championship through the streets of Ann Arbor. He was also on hand to witness the celebration and told the Free Press at the time he had no timeline for his decision, but implied he could see himself fitting in with Dusty May’s squad while wearing Michigan gear.
“Whatever they need me to do,” Harris said of how he envisioned his role. “Whatever gets the team to win.”
A 6-foot-7, 200-pound guard with forward size, Harris was one of the nation’s elite scorers last season with the Demon Deacons, finishing No. 14 in the nation at 21.7 points per game to go with 6.5 rebounds. Harris had seven games with 28 points or more which included 17 games with 20 or more points, highlighted by a career-high 38 against Boston College. He became Wake Forest’s first player to score 750 points or more in a single season since 1961.
While he’s not the same size as Lendeborg, there seems to be a decent chance he would start on the wing, with Elliot Cadeau returning at point guard and Trey McKenney expected to return and start at shooting guard. Michigan has talent behind McKenney at the 2-guard spot, with five-star Brandon McCoy entering the fold.
Harris, who was named the ACC’s most improved player and finished as second-team all-league, has two years of eligibility remaining. He shot 44.4% from the floor and 33.2% on 3s in 2025-26, while serving as the Demon Deacons’ primary option. Harris is 60 points short of 1,000 for his career and is one of the most coveted players in the portal.
The NBA combine takes place in Chicago from May 10–17, then players have until May 27 to decide if they want to pull their name out of the two-day NBA Draft, set to take place Tuesday, June 23, and Wednesday, June 24 in Brooklyn.
On Friday, April 24, Michigan had a flurry of activity. U-M landed a pledge from former Cincinnati center Moustapha Thiam, who will join former Tennessee big man J.P. Estrella in the frontcourt. Thiam’s announcement came almost exactly 24 hours after U-M landed former LSU big man Jalen Reed.
It appears that trio will make up for potential lost production from last year’s starters, Aday Mara and Morez Johnson Jr., both of whom declared for the 2026 NBA Draft on Friday. That said, both opted to maintain their college eligibility, leaving open a potential return to Ann Arbor.
Michigan’s roster is rounding into form and Harris appears to be the last major domino yet to fall.
Tony Garcia is the Michigan beat writer for the Detroit Free Press. Email him at apgarcia@freepress.com and follow him on X at @RealTonyGarcia.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: If Michigan wants top portal target Juke Harris, it’ll have to wait
Reporting by Tony Garcia, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
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