The Wolverine: Covering University of Michigan Football and Sports
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APRIL 2025 ❱ THE WOLVERINE 53 ❱ WHERE ARE THEY NOW? "My goal had always been to play in the NBA," Stauskas said. "That was the first time in my life where not many other people were thinking about it. Af- ter my freshman year, I wasn't on any draft boards. Mitch and Glenn were pro- jected lottery picks, and they decided to come back to school. In my mind, I knew I was on that level. There just needed to be some small adjustments. "That was why it was an easy decision to stay at school that entire summer after freshman year and do the 'Camp Sander- son' circuit [named after Jon Sanderson, former U-M strength coach]. Just be in the weight room and focus on developing my body a little bit more. "I understood that was the last piece for me. I've been working my entire life on my shooting stroke and ball handling. However, with the jump to college bas- ketball, there was times where physically maybe I was a little step behind. "I knew that if I could gain a couple of strides in that department, that it would help me a great deal and help the team as well. That entire summer, I just had a little bit of a chip on my shoulder. I always looked for motivation, and I just felt slighted. I wanted to work a little bit harder and prove people wrong." Stauskas parlayed his college success into be- coming an NBA lottery pick, going No. 8 overall to the Sacramento Kings in the 2014 NBA Draft. He spent time with the Kings, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, Portland Trail Blazers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics, and played in at least parts of nine NBA seasons. He suited up in 343 games with 63 starts, averaging 6.7 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.5 assists per game. Part of his career overlapped with getting his feet wet in the broadcasting world. "My first opportunity to get into broadcasting was while I was playing in the NBA," Stauskas said. "During my years playing for the Sixers, we were not in the playoffs, and I normally spent my offseason back home in Toronto. "One year, TSN reached out to my agent and said, 'We'd love to have Nik on as a guest analyst covering the Raptors in the playoffs this year.' "I was going to watch those playoff games whether I'm on my couch or whatever it may be. I said I'd love to do something like that and get some expe- rience doing it. At first, it was just one game, let's see how it goes, and then it eventually turned into three seasons covering the Raptors in the playoffs, and I probably worked about 40 playoff games. "It was a cool experience for me, and I felt like I was able to offer a different per- spective because I was currently in the league playing against those guys. The more games I did, the more comfortable I got. Playing basketball was still my main focus at the time. I always thought in the back of my head maybe this is something that I could pursue on a more full-time basis once I'm done playing. "Now that that time in my career has finally come where I'm not playing any- more, I started to dabble in those op- portunities and try to find a home some- where in that realm." Stauskas called a pair of U-M's exhibi- tion games for the Big Ten Network this past fall, which was a full circle moment for him. He feels his time in Ann Arbor prepared him for everything that came after it in terms of character and lessons learned. "The values that I learned from Coach Beilein and [the late] Greg Harden and the culture that was around us at Michi- gan, I felt taught us how to be profes- sionals before we were professionals," Stauskas recalled. "I give a lot of credit to the staff for taking the time and teaching us things that would help us not just on the basketball court, but beyond that in day-to-day life — how to care for your- self, how to be respectful, how to work hard and how to listen." ❑ Stauskas led U-M to the regular-season conference championship in 2013-14 and was named Big Ten Player of Year. PHOTO COURTESY MICHIGAN ATHLETICS ❱ The Nik Stauskas File Michigan Accomplishments: Four-star recruit, No. 74 overall player (On3 Industry Ranking) in class of 2012 … Two Sweet 16s, two Elite Eights, a Final Four and an NCAA national title game appearance … Named the Big Ten Player of the Year and a second-team All-American as a sophomore. Professional Accomplishments: No. 8 over- all pick of the Sacramento Kings in the 2014 NBA Draft … Spent parts of nine seasons with Kings, Philadelphia 76ers, Brooklyn Nets, Port- land Trail Blazers, Cleveland Cavaliers, Miami Heat and Boston Celtics … Also spent time playing overseas with Baskonia (2019-20) and in the NBA G League with Raptors 905 (2021), Grand Rapids Gold (2021, 2022) and Maine Celtics (2022). He Said It: "It was just maybe a six-week span where like everyone can go without so- cial media. Turn it off. Don't listen to what any- one's saying. Don't engage with fans. Don't read it. Let's focus on us. It may not seem like a big deal, but that focus and the willingness to give something up for something bigger worked." — Stauskas, on locking in for U-M's national title run down the stretch in 2013 ❱ Stauskas "The values that I learned from Coach Beilein and [the late] Greg Harden and the culture that was around us at Michigan taught us how to be professionals before we were professionals."