Michigan State Basketball: How did Spartans in the NBA fare in 2020-21?

Over the years, Tom Izzo has produced plenty of NBA players. In fact, since he’s been the head coach, 22 players have been drafted and 11 have gone in the first round. Overall, he has put 24 players in the NBA as two have gone undrafted.

Not too shabby for the Hall of Fame head coach, especially since he’ll likely add another one this year with Aaron Henry declaring for the NBA draft after his junior campaign.

But currently, there are eight former Spartans in the NBA and most played a decent amount during the 2020-21 regular season.

With the NBA’s regular season wrapped up and the play-in tournament commencing, I figured this was the best time to take a look at how each former Spartan fared.

How did Spartans in the NBA fare this season?

Let’s just get right into it and kick this off with the most impressive Spartan in the NBA.

Miles Bridges was a breakout star in the final months of the regular season. He averaged 19.1 points in April for the Hornets and over 20 in May despite missing six games and he helped Charlotte make the play-in tournament and it’s currently in the hunt for the 8-seed. He finished the regular season averaging 12.7 points and 6.0 rebounds, becoming the first Hornet to ever finish with a 50/40/80 slash-line. I guess he does ‘have game’ after all.

Jaren Jackson Jr. was in the same draft class as Bridges and was also a lottery pick, but he has suffered a lot of injuries in his young career. He played in just 11 games for the Grizzlies this season, averaging 14.4 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks. He didn’t get a chance to really shake the rust off, but the Grizzlies are in the play-in tournament and he still has a shot to get back to his normal self.

Bryn Forbes has carved out a nice role for himself in the NBA after a great two-year career in East Lansing. He was an undrafted player but has played in 331 games over five seasons. In his first year with the Bucks, he averaged 10 points per game and shot a career-best 45 percent from the floor. Giannis is happy to have a complementary piece like Forbes.

Gary Harris’ last two seasons haven’t quite been ideal, but he may have just needed a change of scenery. He was dealt to the Magic by the Nuggets and averaged just over 10 points per game. If he shakes off these past two seasons and stays healthy next year, he could have a nice bounce-back. As long as he plays defense, he’ll have a home in the NBA, but offense will earn him minutes.

Is anyone really shocked that Draymond Green continues to be a triple-double machine? The longest-tenured Spartan in the NBA had yet another successful season with the Warriors despite being a non-scorer, averaging 7.0 points, 7.1 rebounds, 8.9 assists, and 1.7 steals per game. He’s a big reason the Warriors are back in the playoff conversation.

Xavier Tillman was one of two Spartan rookies in the NBA and he made quite the early impression, averaging 6.6 points and 4.3 rebounds in 59 games with the Grizzlies. Memphis is going to be a fun team to watch for the foreseeable future with Tillman and Jackson Jr. reunited and patrolling the paint.

Denzel Valentine had an up-and-down year with the Bulls. He showed flashes of being a quality role player but then there were nights when he completely disappeared or just didn’t get any action. He averaged 6.5 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 1.7 assists in 62 games.

Lastly, there was Cassius Winston who was a G-League star but didn’t see much action for the Wizards in his rookie campaign. He averaged 1.9 points and 0.5 assists in 22 games. But hey, his per-36 stats weren’t too shabby at 15.1 points and 4.4 assists per game. Here’s to hoping he has a decent role with the Wizards next year and beyond.

Overall, not a bad year for Spartans in the NBA as it looks like they have a few budding stars in Bridges, Jackson Jr., and Tillman and a couple of guys who could bounce back in 2021-22 in Harris and Valentine.