Jaden Akins, others, will get their shot to make NBA rosters
It did not happen in the immediate aftermath of the NBA Draft, but now a number of former Michigan State basketball players have received invitations to play on Summer League rosters.
Beginning with our leading scorer and captain from last season, Jaden Akins has been invited to play with the Orlando Magic in the Las Vegas competition, which begins this week.
Fellow senior Frankie Fidler, who played his final season of college ball in East Lansing, will be staying in the Midwest and joining the Milwaukee Bucks summer roster.
The third senior from last year, Szymon Zapala, has not received any invites as of yet, but he did receive a different invite this past week. He will be joining Poland’s national team for EuroBasket 2025, the continental championship tournament which begins in late August. Poland is also one of the host nations for the tournament, so Zapala will get a chance to play in front of crowds of his countrymen.
Moving on from members of last year’s squad, a couple of players who transferred out to play their final college seasons elsewhere have also received Summer League invites. AJ Hoggard, who played for Vanderbilt last year, will be joining the New Orleans Pelicans.
And Mady Sissoko, who was at Cal last season, has already gotten underway with the Oklahoma City Thunder in the lesser-known Salt Lake City Summer League. He played 21 minutes in the opening game, scoring 4 points, corralling 7 rebounds, and blocking 2 shots.
Lastly, going back a couple years, former four-year Spartan Marcus Bingham Jr. is also going to Orlando for the Summer League where he will be playing with Akins and recent draft pick Jase Richardson.
Moving away from basketball, there was one last bit of news coming out of E.L. over the weekend, this one from the football team. The defensive line is adding an edge rusher in Chris Addison from Winnsboro, Louisiana. Addison is a 6’3”, 250 pound recruit who is rated as a three-star player. He is the 22nd member of MSU’s 2026 recruiting class.