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College basketball coaching legend Tom Izzo didn’t hold back when asked about James Nnaji’s return to Baylor after being selected in the NBA Draft but never playing a game for a team.
Nnaji announced that he would return to the Bears after a stint at FC Barcelona. He was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in 2023 and was traded twice during his career. He was part of the trade that sent Karl-Anthony Towns to the New York Knicks before the 2024-25 season.
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Michigan State Spartans head coach Tom Izzo protests a call that benefited the Iowa Hawkeyes in the first half at the Jack Breslin Student Events Center on Dec. 2, 2025. (Dale Young/Imagn Images)
But Nnaji is part of a growing trend of former NCAA-eligible college basketball players returning to school after stints in the G League or elsewhere. Izzo suggested on Saturday that he had had enough.
“Now we’re taking guys that got drafted in the NBA and everything,” the Michigan State men’s basketball coach said, via the Detroit Free Press . “I told you a month and a half ago — come on Magic (Johnson) and Gary (Harris), let’s go, baby, let’s do it. Why not? I mean, if that’s what we’re going to (do), shame on the NCAA. Shame on the coaches, too. But shame on the NCAA, because coaches have to do what those people are on, but I guess those people are the committees that make those decisions to allow something so ridiculous and not think about the kid.
James Nnaji of Barcelona takes a shot during the Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Regular Season Round 34 match between LDLC Asvel Villeurbanne and FC Barcelona at LDLC Arena on April 12, 2024 in Lyon, France. (Eurasia Sport Images/Getty Images)
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“So everybody’s talking about me thinking about my program or me being selfish. No. Get this straight, y’all. I think about what’s best for my son if he was in that position? And I just don’t agree with that.”
Izzo maintained that he wasn’t going to fight the growing trend, but he also wasn’t going to let it pass him by without sharing his thoughts on the issue. He maintained that if college basketball is going to be more like the professional ranks, then it should go all in instead of dipping a toe or two in that water.
James Nnaji of FC Barcelona in action during warm-ups ahead of the 2023/2024 Turkish Airlines EuroLeague Play Offs match 1 between FC Barcelona and Olympiacos Piraeus at the Palau Blaugrana on April 24, 2024 in Barcelona, Spain. (Rodolfo Molina/Euroleague Basketball)
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He expressed similar sentiments in October when the first crop of G League players returned to school.
