Michigan State Basketball: Emoni Bates would choose college over G-League

Despite the fact that many believe Emoni Bates will go the G-League route, he admitted he’d rather play for Michigan State basketball.

For years, there has been talk of the one-and-done rule becoming a thing of the past sooner rather than later. The timeframe for this one-and-done rule change was thought to be in place before the 2022 NBA Draft. All of that seems to be put on hold.

So when Emoni Bates committed to Michigan State on Monday afternoon, it held more weight than many originally perceived.

There have been negotiations about the one-and-done rule change, but with the NBA “dragging its feet”, there’s a good chance it won’t happen by 2022.

This helps Michigan State’s chances even more with the newly-committed five-star prospect from Ypsilanti even though he did state he didn’t know what his future may hold. Heck, he may know that the rule change is unlikely which is why he made that statement.

Monday’s most interesting Bates quote

Jeff Borzello released some quotes he had from an in-depth interview with Bates and his father, Elgin, and they actually improved Michigan State’s outlook.

Bates and his father didn’t shoot down the idea of reclassifying and Emoni even said that “if it’s too easy” he’ll probably do it.

The major quote was about the G-League which caught my attention immediately. If the one-and-done rule isn’t in place by 2022, Bates could make at least $500,000 in the G-League for a year like Isaiah Todd chose to do after he originally committed to Michigan. His thought process is different, though, stating that “it’s good for certain players” while admitting it might not be for him.

Emoni went one step further in stating that he’d rather play college ball at Michigan State than appear in the G-League.

If this is true and Emoni and his father truly feel this way, Michigan State may actually get the No. 1 player in the country on the court in 2021 or 2022 for a year. What a win that would be.