Jeremy Fears Jr. withdraws from NBA Draft and will return to Michigan State for 2026-27 season

While it was widely expected to happen, the Michigan State men's basketball program received massive news on Wednesday, as sources tell Spartans Illustrated that All-American point guard Jeremy Fears Jr. has withdrawn from the 2026 NBA Draft and will return to the Spartans. He will enter his redshirt junior campaign with MSU during the 2026-2027 season.

Fears announced on April 10 that he will declare for the NBA Draft, but maintain his college eligibility. Fears was able to successfully remove his name from consideration in time, as the deadline to withdraw from the draft is at 11:59 p.m. Eastern Time on May 27.

The NBA Draft will take place on Tuesday, June 23 and Wednesday, June 24 in Brooklyn, New York.

With Fears' decision to "test the waters" and go through the draft process, he was able to get feedback on his game and receive a projection of where he may get drafted (if at all) from the the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee and league personnel. Now, he will return to East Lansing knowing exactly what areas of his game he needs to improve upon.

Fears was invited to participate in the NBA Draft Combine from May 10 through May 17 in Chicago. He measured in at 6-feet tall (without shoes) and 196.2 pounds. He has a wingspan of 6-feet-four inches (plus four inches from his listed height) and recorded a standing reach of 8-feet-1-and-a-half inches. Fears recorded a standing vertical leap of 32 inches and a max vertical leap of 39 inches.

While participating at the combine, Fears impressed in certain aspects. He had a strong first scrimmage, scoring 17 points on 5-for-7 shooting (71.4%), including making one of his two 3-point attempts. He also made six of his eight free throws, and recorded five assists, three rebounds, two steals and just one turnover. Another thing about Fears that stood out to scouts during the five-on-five scrimmages was his leadership ability.

According to NBA.com's advanced statistics, Fears shot 21-for-30 on shots off of the dribble (70%), 13-for-25 (52%) on spot-up shots (52%), 13-for-25 (52%) in the 3-point star drill, 15-for-25 in the 3-point side drill (60%) and 8-for-10 (80%) on free throws.

Fears also ranked in the top-eight of all combine participants in both the lane agility drill (10.62 seconds) and the three-quarter sprint (3.11 seconds).

He went through private workouts with NBA teams as well. According to USA TODAY's HoopsHype, Fears had pre-draft workouts with the Milwaukee Bucks and Washington Wizards.

Of note, during the 2025 NBA Draft, Fears' younger brother, Jeremiah Fears, was selected with the No. 7 overall pick by the New Orleans Pelicans.

However, after listening to all the feedback he received, and consulting with agent Mike Miller, his family and Izzo, Jeremy Fears has opted to play college basketball for at least one more season.

Jeff Goodman — the co-founder of The Field of 68 — spoke to 10 NBA executives to get anonymous feedback on certain players, including Jeremy Fears. On May 22, Goodman released that list publicly and revealed that all 10 executives would recommend that the elder Fears brother returns to college.

On May 14, the Spartan point guard told Andy Katz of the Big Ten Network that he would stay in the draft if a team gave him a guarantee it would draft him in the first-round. Jeremy Fears also noted that improving his shooting and becoming an even better defender are things that he wants to work on the most.

Following Fears' April announcement that he would be going through the draft process, sources indicated to Spartans Illustrated that Fears was committed to returning to MSU for the 2026-2027 campaign. Sources remained adamant throughout the months of April and May that he was likely to return to the Spartans.

With Jeremy Fears on the roster, Michigan State is projected by many pundits and publications to begin the 2026-2027 season as a top-10-ranked team. The Spartans are expected to be a true contender in both the Big Ten conference and on the national level under Hall-of-Fame head coach Tom Izzo.

In addition to Jeremy Fears, MSU returns Coen Carr, Jordan Scott, Cam Ward, Kaleb Glenn, Kur Teng, Jesse McCulloch, Brennan Walton and Colin Walton from the 2025-2026 roster for the upcoming season. The Spartans also add Charlotte transfer center Anton Bonke, and a group of four true freshmen who are all rated as four-star prospects and rank in the top-100 nationally: guard Jasiah Jervis, center Ethan Taylor, point guard Carlos Medlock Jr. and forward Julius Avent.

Bonke also went through the NBA Draft process and withdrew his name from consideration on May 27 as well.

Michigan State has one roster spot open for the 2026-2027 season, but it remains to be seen if the team will fill it. Sources have indicated to Spartans Illustrated that the spot will likely remain open, outside of a couple of specific scenarios happening.

A team captain, the importance of Jeremy Fears' return for the Spartans cannot be overstated. During the 2025-2026 campaign, he led MSU with 15.2 points per game, and led the nation in both assists (9.4 per game) and in assist percentage (53%). The Illinois native also set the Michigan State program record for assists in a single season with 328. Additionally, Jeremy Fears averaged 2.3 rebounds per game and 1.3 steals per game. He shot 43.1% overall from the field, 32.1% from 3-point range and 88.5% from the free-throw line.

Following his stellar performance during the 2025-2026 season, the point guard earned All-American honors from five separate outlets: The Wooden Award All-American Team (one of 10 honorees), the Associated Press (second-team), The Sporting News (third-team), the United States Basketball Writers Association (third-team) and the National Association of Basketball Coaches (third-team). He also earned consensus first-team All-Big Ten honors.

Led by Jeremy Fears, Michigan State finished the most recent season with an overall record of 27-8 and a Big Ten record of 15-5. MSU earned a No. 3 seed in the 2026 NCAA Men's Basketball Tournament and advanced to the regional semifinals (Sweet 16) round in the East Region before losing to No. 2-seeded Connecticut by a final score of 67-63.

In total, Jeremy Fears has played in 83 career collegiate games with the Spartans (71 starts) thus far. He has recorded averages of 10.0 points, 6.8 assists, 2.2 rebounds and 1.1 steals per game. In terms of his shooting, the soon-to-be redshirt junior has made 42.4% of his overall shots from the field, 32% from behind the arc and 81.4% of his free-throw attempts.

In December of 2023, Jeremy Fears was shot in the leg in his hometown of Joliet, Illinois. Fears missed the rest of the 2023-2024 campaign after playing 12 games as a true freshman. He returned to play in 36 games (all starts) during his redshirt freshman season in 2024-2025 and helped the Spartans capture a Big Ten championship and make an Elite Eight appearance.

Jeremy Fears was also an Academic All-Big Ten honoree as a redshirt freshman during the 2024-2025 campaign.

While it is highly likely that Jeremy Fears will enter his name in 2027 NBA Draft, he still has two years of collegiate eligibility remaining.