Michigan State Basketball: Cassius Winston drafted by Wizards at No. 53

The long wait is over for Michigan State basketball’s Cassius Winston as he was drafted at No. 53 overall and traded to the Washington Wizards.

Anyone who has followed Cassius Winston throughout his career knows that Wednesday night was a long time coming and while he probably deserved to go higher, he’s going to make Wizards fans very happy.

Winston just went through the toughest year of his life starting with the loss of his brother to start his senior season and then capping it off with the cancellation of the NCAA Tournament. He still had one of the best careers of any Big Ten point guard ever, finishing just shy of 2,000 career points and as the all-time leader in assists for the conference.

The Wizards were looking for a playmaker as a backup point guard who can shoot and Cassius is just that. While he may not be the most athletic guy out there, he’s a career 40 percent shooter from deep.

While it may have been a much better situation for him had he gone to someone like Milwaukee, Toronto or Golden State, getting selected by the Thunder and traded to the Wizards had to lift a massive weight off his shoulders.

Fans are always going to remember Cassius for being an all-time great in Easy Lansing and arguably the best point guard of the Tom Izzo era, engineering a Final Four run in 2018-19 and three straight Big Ten titles.

Washington is getting one of the craftiest guards in the draft who may not wow anyone with athleticism but he’s going to make plays and shots. He’ll get some good experience behind John Wall and hopefully grow on a young roster.

Good to see Cassius finally get picked after a long night.