Michigan State Basketball: Aaron Henry will end up as NBA draft steal

Aaron Henry was that dude in 2020-21. When Michigan State needed a basket, most of the time, he was there to hit it. When Michigan State needed a run to make the NCAA Tournament, there he was, putting the Spartans on his back.

Because the season was fairly underwhelming and disappointing in terms of what fans are used to under Tom Izzo, Henry will probably never get the love and admiration he deserves.

Henry had a career season, averaging 15.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game while playing stingy defense and coming up clutch a ton at the end of the season. His year ended on a sour note as he was criticized for not boxing out at the end of the UCLA game in which his rebound could have ended it and send MSU to the first round, but it’s tough to knock a kid when he’s the main reason the Spartans were in that position in the first place.

The junior wing declared for the draft last offseason but eventually came back and it was pretty much a given that he’d be gone after the 2020-21 season unless he showed no improvement.

Well, he improved in just about every aspect and now he’s officially leaving MSU.

https://twitter.com/MSU_Basketball/status/1381659197931094017?s=20

Talk about the least surprising news ever. This had been expected for weeks.

Aaron Henry will be a draft steal in the late-first or second round

If you put a lot of stock in NBA mock drafts, you’d realize that Henry is looking like a late-first option at the earliest but he’s more than likely a second-round prospect.

Henry is NBA-ready, though.

The only area of his game that could use more work is his 3-point jumper which was just under 30 percent this season but he also didn’t take a ton of shots. He stuck to the mid-range and putting the ball on the floor and driving to the hoop. He excelled when he was creating his own shots and his mid-range jumper got infinitely better this season.

Henry also played solid defense all season as one of the best defenders on the team and he improved in essentially every aspect from his handles to his passing and decision-making.

Draymond Green said it best during the season: Aaron Henry is going to make one NBA team very happy this year.

One team is going to draft him at the end of the first or in the second round and get a kid who has an NBA-ready body and skillset who, with a consistent 3-point jumper, could be a budding star.