As if Tom Izzo wasn’t already on his last straw with coaching in the NCAA, his Mateen Cleaves 2.0 point guard is now considering leaving two years early for the NBA.
If anything could drive Izzo into retirement, it would be losing the point guard who he compared to his best ever who led him to his first — and currently only — national title. Losing Jeremy Fears Jr. at this junction in his coaching career would be a brutal blow to his chase for No. 2 and it would put a serious damper on next season’s Big Ten and national title pursuit.
With Fears, Michigan State is a top-five team to begin the season. Without Fears, Michigan State would be lucky to be in the top 20.
This decision is obviously impactful, but there’s a lot more riding on it now than Divine Ugochukwu decided to transfer to LSU. That means that the only true point guard on the roster other than Fears is Carlos Medlock Jr. and he hasn’t even gotten to campus yet. That would put Izzo in a really tough spot and he’d likely have to dig deep into the portal or look overseas for some help.
Fears reportedly had some private NBA workouts this week and he “excelled” according to BTN analyst Rapheal Davis. He also shot 74-of-100 in one of the shooting drills.
There was no word on which teams he worked out for, but now that information is available and the two reported NBA workouts should have Spartan fans feeling better about his return.
Who did Jeremy Fears Jr. work out for?
According to HoopsHype, Fears reportedly locked in workouts with the Milwaukee Bucks and Washington Wizards. This could be a positive development in regards to a return.
Why?
Washington may have won the NBA Draft Lottery and will pick No. 1 overall, but the Wizards’ next pick is not until No. 51 late in the second round and they also have the last pick (No. 60) in the 2026 NBA Draft. That would mean that he’d be considered a late-second round pick if the Wizards were to be the team to make him a promise.
As for Milwaukee, the Bucks have just one pick in this year’s draft and that’s No. 10 overall. The Bucks traded several picks away so they only have one this year and Fears is not going in the lottery so they don’t seem like a realistic option.
Obviously players aren’t limited to only the teams that they work out privately for, but it’s an interesting sign that no team in the range that Fears is looking to be drafted has worked him out yet.
I’ll take this as a positive sign for a return — for now.
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