Two-time NBA All-Star and former University of Wisconsin men’s basketball all-time leading scorer Michael Finley will deliver the keynote address at this year’s winter commencement ceremony, according to a release from UW News.
Finley was chosen as this year’s keynote speaker, not only for his basketball career, but also because his story encompasses the idea of a “true Badger,” UW senior class president Gracie Nelson said in the release.
The featured speaker is a top-tier sports executive, Hollywood film producer and originator of a nonprofit organization called the Michael Finley Foundation, which helps families and children reach their maximum potential, according to the release.
“His accomplishments are not just inspiring but also relatable, as he once stood where our graduating class stands today,” Nelson said in the release. “Michael Finley’s story is not just about athletic achievement, but it’s about the extraordinary potential that resides within each graduate, waiting to be unlocked.”
Finley was a member of the UW men’s basketball team from 1991 to 1995, guiding the Badgers to the NCAA tournament in 1994. He achieved the record for the highest career scoring in UW history with 2,147 points, and upon leaving UW, he ranked as the 12 highest scorer in Big Ten history, according to the release.
Last year, UW retired Finley’s jersey, No. 24, and hung it in the Kohl Center. This was one of only three basketball jersey’s to be retired in school history, according to the release.
He left UW prior to graduating to join the NBA, where he was a first-round pick by the Phoenix Suns in the 1995 NBA draft. He was named to the First Team All-Time Rookie Team that same year, according to the release. After being traded to the Dallas Mavericks the following year, Finley became a two-time All-Star in 2000 and 2001.
After retiring from the NBA in 2010, he returned to school to complete his bachelor’s degree in agricultural and applied economics at UW in 2014, according to the release.
Finley now works in the Mavericks’ front office, with his tenth season beginning this fall, and is in his third season as the assistant general manager and vice president of basketball operations.
The 2023 winter commencement ceremony will take place at 10 a.m. Sunday, Dec. 17 at the Kohl Center.
“It will be such an honor to welcome Michael Finley back to campus, a place where he brought so much joy to Badger fans and left such an impressive legacy,” Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin said in the press release. “Mr. Finley is one of our most accomplished alums, on and off the courts. I know he will have a lot to share with this year’s graduates.”
