How Former MSU Star Akins Is Performing in G League

One of the Spartans' best players from last year's championship-winning team is doing well at the next level.

Michigan State guard Jaden Akins (3) celebrates 71-63 win over New Mexico at the Second Round of NCAA tournament at Rocket Arena in Cleveland, Ohio on Sunday, March 23, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

One of the best players on Michigan State's Big Ten-winning men's basketball team that reached the Elite Eight last season is off to a great start to his professional career.

Four-year Spartan Jaden Akins went undrafted in this year's NBA draft, but he's found a home not far from East Lansing with the G League's Motor City Cruise, who play at Wayne State University. The Cruise are the affiliate of the NBA's Detroit Pistons.

Akins' Season So Far

Michigan State guard Jaden Akins (3) attempts a free throw against Auburn during the first half of the Elite Eight round of NCAA tournament at State Farm Arena in Atlanta, Ga. on Sunday, March 30, 2025. | Junfu Han / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

He's only played 12 games for the Cruise so far this season, but the numbers that Akins has put up so far have been fantastic. Akins is averaging 17.0 points, 4.5 rebounds, 7.3 assists, and 1.1 steals per game so far in his professional career.

One of the promising signs is that Akins has appeared to have found his three-point shot again. He was a 35.2% career shooter from deep over his four seasons at MSU, but it dropped to 29.3% during his senior season. Even though the NBA and G League line is further back, Akins is backing 37.0% of his three-point shots on 6.1 attempts per game, which is a larger volume than any of his seasons at Michigan State.

What also sticks out is Akins' assist numbers, which have put him at eighth in the entire G League. Despite the faster pace of the professional level, Akins is averaging way more assists than at any point during his MSU career. His career-high for assists in college was only six, and now Akins is averaging more than seven per game. It's come with an uptick in turnovers, but his assist-to-giveaway ratio is still greater than 2:1.

The uptick in Akins' assist numbers was immediate. His professional debut was against the Sioux Falls Force, the affiliate of the Miami Heat, and Akins promptly dropped 16 points and dished out 14 assists to just two turnovers. He scored 26 points and had seven assists against the Force the following day.

Akins' Career at MSU

Michigan State's head coach Tom Izzo, left, calms down Jaden Akins during the second half in the game against Penn State on Thursday, Jan. 4, 2024, in East Lansing. | Nick King/Lansing State Journal / USA TODAY NETWORK

It's safe to say that Akins left a positive legacy at Michigan State. He was the prototypical four-year college player from the past, accepting a lesser role at first, but developing and getting better and better every single season.

Akins left East Lansing with the program in a better place than he found it, being the team's leading scorer last year and helping the Spartans to the Big Ten regular season championship and an appearance in the Elite Eight. His 1,252 career points sit at 32nd in the program's history.

Mar 28, 2025; Atlanta, GA, USA; Michigan State Spartans guard Jaden Akins (3) reacts after a play in the second half of a South Regional semifinal of the 2025 NCAA tournament against the Mississippi Rebels at State Farm Arena. | Brett Davis-Imagn Images

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