Hunter Dickinson Returning To Michigan?

Hunter Dickinson's future will likely be partially known in the coming days.

Michigan sophomore center Hunter Dickinson obviously has aspirations to play in the NBA, but are they so strong that he's ready to leave Ann Arbor right now? That's what everyone interested in Michigan basketball is waiting to find out.

Dickinson has just two more days to kind of make up his mind. College players and international early entrants have until the end of the day on April 24 to submit their names into the 2022 NBA Draft pool. They can withdraw their names later if they decide they’re not quite ready to go pro, though if college players want to maintain their NCAA eligibility, they can’t hire an agent who’s not certified by the NCAA. So Dickinson has to at least decide if he's going to test the waters or not.

But ever since Michigan's season ended, it's felt like Dickinson was leaning towards coming back. There have been some cryptic posts by him and his teammates since then and there just hasn't been a lot of smoke indicating that he's leaving. Now, another piece of evidence has surfaced.

Earlier today, on future Michigan hooper Jett Howard's Instagram story, Dickinson can be seen enjoying a meal with visiting transfer target Terrence Shannon Jr. If Dickinson is leaving, it doesn't make a ton of sense to have him squarely involved in a recruit's visit. Not only is Dickinson present, he's sitting right next to Shannon and the caption reads, "Business!!"

Obviously this isn't anything close to a guarantee that Dickinson will return, but it does support that idea that he's leaning that way. Dickinson could just as easily be telling Shannon what he's loved about his two years in Ann Arbor ahead of his exit, but talking to him about playing together next season makes a lot more sense.