The 2026 NBA Draft wrapped up on Wednesday night and unlike last year, Michigan State had no one selected. A year ago, Jase Richardson heard his name called in the first round by the Orlando Magic and Jaden Akins had an outside shot, but this year, Jaxon Kohler nor Carson Cooper were selected.
Both Spartan draft hopefuls have since signed deals with NBA teams but unless they make they actually play NBA minutes this year, the “Tom Izzo can’t develop” crowd will continue to be nauseatingly annoying and loud.
That crowd felt vindicated during the NBA draft as most of them are Michigan fans who watched three Wolverines selected in the lottery.
That caused plenty of trash talk among the rivals, but Michigan State was even catching strays from prominent social media accounts. Michigan fans spent the entire night bashing Izzo and talking about how he can’t produce NBA players (he obviously can) but he was even catching strays from some large Twitter accounts with no perceived bias.
One stray that really caused me to do a double-take and scratch my head was from BetMGM.
MSU hasn't had a lottery pick in almost a decade 😳 pic.twitter.com/OvCMA6CodQ
— BetMGM 🦁 (@BetMGM) June 24, 2026
Woah. What are we doing here? What did Michigan State do to BetMGM? Did Michigan State turn down a sponsorship or something? I’m not sure if there’s a Michigan fan running that account, but that was a wicked stray for Michigan State to catch on a night that should’ve been about the newly-drafted NBA rookies.
I get it, Michigan State hasn’t had a ton of NBA Lottery pick success over the past decade, but there’s no need to take a shot at the Spartans just because Michigan had just its second draft in the past decade with multiple first-round picks.
Michigan State had a first-round pick a year ago but that apparently isn’t good enough.
Who will be Michigan State’s next first-rounder?
Forget lottery picks, since those are difficult to predict, which Spartans are going to become the next first-rounders to hopefully silence the doubters?
My best bet would be Jeremy Fears Jr. After watching Braden Smith go 38th overall in this year’s draft despite not having the explosiveness — or honestly the potential — that Fears has, I believe that he’s going to sneak into the first round next June.
Fears isn’t the only Spartan on the current roster who I before could become a first-round pick. I could see Coen Carr in the conversation if he can showcase a consistent jumper this year, Jordan Scott has been talked about by some draft experts, Jasiah Jervis is a popular pick, and I think Ethan Taylor has legitimate first-round potential.
Michigan State will have a first-rounder very soon but of course that probably won’t be enough for the “Izzo can’t develop” crowd that was louder than ever this week.
Add us as a preferred source on Google