Anton Bonke just withdrew from the NBA draft on Wednesday afternoon, declaring his return to college basketball with a transfer to Michigan State via Charlotte.
The 7-foot-2 big man will obviously have more size than any Spartan center in recent memory but he needs to work on getting better with his back to the basket and maybe running the fast break as Jeremy Fears likes to do. With all of that work he needs to do, he’s still ranked six spots ahead of Booker in the NBA draft’s center rankings.
NBA Draft Room ranked its top centers in the 2027 draft class and Bonke came in six spots ahead of a former Spartan big man who many thought was going to be the next frontcourt star in East Lansing.
That former Spartan is UCLA big man Xavier Booker who came in at No. 19 compared to Bonke at 13. It’s almost hard to fathom how a Charlotte transfer who couldn’t crack the rotation at Providence as a freshman is listed as a better NBA prospect as a former five-star who people, including myself, were basically dubbing him Jaren jackson Jr. lite.
Booker never worked out in East Lansing and Izzo has said that he regrets that, but now he’s playing for Mick Cronin and getting chewed out probably more than he did at Michigan State. He averaged 7.3 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.2 blocks in over 20 minutes per game with UCLA in 2025-26 which isn’t as much of an improvement as scouts were hoping to see.
Bonke, on the other hand, also had a career year (you can technically call Booker’s junior season that, too), averaging 10.6 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.5 blocks in 25.6 minutes per game.
Like Booker, Bonke improved his 3-points shooting drastically. He didn’t hit a single three with Providence a couple of years ago but then shot 34.2% in 2025-26 with Charlotte. That part of his games makes him even scarier. I mean, who wants to guard a 7-foot-2 big man who can also step out and hit threes? No one.
Michigan State got a good one.
There’s no ill-will toward Xavier Booker
Izzo pleaded with fans this past season to go easy on Booker when he visited the Breslin Center because he was a great team player and did nothing wrong by transferring.
Michigan State fans responded by giving Booker a warm welcome back to East Lansing before watching the Spartans take it to the Bruins. That game was all Michigan State and Booker was kind of non-existent but he showed back up during a Big Ten Tournament win over the Spartans.
Booker has a lot of fans in the green and white still. For a lot of them, Booker was supposed to be a superstar at Michigan State, but he’s easy to cheer for as an underdog now.
It’d be cool to see both Booker and Bonke drafted next year.
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