Are Michigan State’s players being underrated by NBA draft scouts?
This week, we reported on a recent 2027 NBA mock draft. The focus of that story, which covered a mock draft from Sam Vecenie, was to highlight a passing comment he made towards the end of the video that he has been hearing some buzz about Michigan State basketball forward Jordan Scott. In that mock draft, which only covered the first round, no Spartans were selected or even mentioned, outside of that passing comment about Scott.
This had me wonder: are Michigan State players being consistently underrated by NBA draft analysts and scouts?
The most recent successful NBA prospect out of Michigan State was probably Max Christie. Christie slid all the way to the second round, but now he is considered a solid NBA starter, starting 68 games last year for the Dallas Mavericks. The most famous example would be, of course, Draymond Green, who also slid to the second round and will be considered a surefire Hall of Famer when he retires.
This past year, I thought that Carson Cooper had the chops to be, at least, a second-round pick in the NBA draft. However, he went undrafted but was ultimately signed by the Memphis Grizzlies. He was one of the more impressive surprises to many viewers at the NBA Summer League, where he pretty obviously looked like he belonged. Jaden Akins is another example. After being overlooked by NBA teams, he had to grind his way through the G-League before getting a contract with the New York Knicks this summer.
This year, Michigan State basketball is projected to be a top-ten team to start the year, with outlets like ESPN ranking them No. 6 in the country. That usually correlates to having at least one or two surefire NBA prospects. However, the only player currently showing up on any mock drafts is Jeremy Fears Jr., who is consistently projected to be a very late second-round pick. On the one hand, I understand why Fears gets projected in that slot due to his size, but he is also, arguably, the best player in college basketball right now. It would be pretty shocking to me if he couldn’t help an NBA team.
This isn’t exactly a bad thing if you are an MSU fan and your hope is to keep the best players in East Lansing for as long as possible, but it also feels a little disrespectful to these players that they don’t get a little more attention. For example, Coen Carr is perhaps the most athletic player in college basketball. It feels pretty obvious that if he can just develop a little more of a handle, or hit some corner threes, he would be able to play in the NBA. Incoming transfer Anton Bonke is 7-foot-2 and can hit threes, that’s not someone the NBA would be interested in?
It will be very interesting to see how some of these players are viewed by the end of the season. I don’t think it’s impossible that all of Jordan Scott, Jeremy Fears Jr., Anton Bonke, and Coen Carr get legitimately opportunities at the next level when they are ready to make that jump.
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This article originally appeared on Spartans Wire: Are Michigan State’s players being underrated by NBA draft scouts?
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