A former Michigan State star tipped off his pro career on Friday night, and he did so with a heck of a performance for the G-League’s Motor City Cruise.
Jaden Akins had an impressive performance in his first game with the Cruise on Friday night, scoring 16 points with a career-best 15 assists. That’s right, Akins not only starred, but he had a double-double with 15 assists. If you had told me that Akins had a double-double in his first G-League game, I would’ve expected the second half of it to be rebounds, not assists.
Clearly, Akins has been working on his passing and playmaking.
The former Michigan State guard scored 16 points on 7-of-13 shooting, so not only was he effective on both ends of the floor, but he was efficient offensively. He added five rebounds to his line, so he wasn’t a slouch on the glass, by any means.
It’s good to see Akins playing well early on because he can be very streaky, but if he starts with confidence, that’s just going to continue to build.
I’m not predicting that Akins will be called up to the Pistons’ active roster any time soon, but if he continues to play like this, it’s going to be tough for the organization to ignore what he’s doing. He has to build on this and continue to play freely because that’s when he’s at his best.
Akins is off to a heck of a G-League start and he’s proving that he belongs. I don’t know about you, but I’d love to see Akins suiting up for the first-place Pistons at some point this season.