Michigan State basketball: AJ Hoggard is early entrant in NBA draft

After Jaden Akins declared for the NBA draft last week and we didn’t hear any other news about Michigan State basketball early entrants, that looked to be it.

But there’s been a new development.

On Tuesday night, Jon Rothstein posted a list of NBA draft early entrants and there was a relatively surprising player on the list.

AJ Hoggard had apparently entered his name in the NBA draft without an announcement.

While this will likely lead to some immediate panic from a portion of the fanbase, it’s truly not something to worry about. The Spartans are expecting him back next season and Tom Izzo said as much in his post-season press conference.

Why Michigan State basketball fans shouldn’t worry

With Hoggard putting his name in the draft, that means one thing: he’s trying to get some valuable feedback from teams ahead of his senior year. He only has one more opportunity to improve his draft stock and he’s trying to become the best player possible and see what it’ll take for him to have his name called in 2024.

A decade ago, when players entered the NBA draft, there was a 99 percent chance they were gone. Now, it’s much different. A majority of players enter early just to get feedback.

In my opinion, that’s exactly what Hoggard is doing.

Plus, the fact that he didn’t post a graphic with an official announcement makes me feel like he has no intention of staying in the draft, but he wants feedback.

Hoggard has until May 31 to pull his name from the draft.