After graduating from Rufus King High School in Milwaukee, Wilks played four years (1997–2001) of college basketball at Rice University, where Mike majored in Economics.

As a rookie in the NBA Development League, Mike won the 2001–02 Sportsmanship Award while playing for the Huntsville Flight.

On December 24, 2002, he was signed to a contract by the Atlanta Hawks where he played 6 games before he was subsequently waived on January 7, 2003.

[6] On 10/26/2004 Wilks signed with the San Antonio Surs with whom he won a title in 2005, averaging 1.8 points per game in the regular season.

Near the 2006 deadline the Cavaliers traded Wilks and Cash to the Seattle SuperSonics for Flip Murray.

After being waived by the Nuggets in October 2007,[8] Wilks was re-signed four days later after Chucky Atkins suffered an injury.

Michael Wilks signed a contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder on November 26.

On August 25, 2010, he signed a deal with Polish league champion Asseco Prokom Gdynia but was waived in January 2011.