College Basketball

Tom Izzo on Pro Players Getting College Eligibility: 'Shame' on NCAA, Coaches

Published Dec. 28, 2025 2:24 p.m. ET

Longtime Michigan State coach Tom Izzo isn't mincing words when it comes to the recent surge of former NBA G League players and international pros getting the green light to play college basketball around the country.

On Christmas Eve, Baylor received a commitment from James Nnaji, the 31st overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. The 21-year-old Nnaji, a 7-foot center from Nigeria, was granted immediate eligibility as a midseason addition and will have four years of eligibility remaining, according to USA Today.

"I thought I’d seen the worst — then Christmas came," Izzo said, per USA Today. "What happened just topped it. … Now we’re taking guys that were drafted in the NBA and everything? … If that’s what we’re going to, shame on the NCAA. Shame on the coaches, too, but shame on the NCAA because coaches are gonna do what they gotta do, I guess, but the NCAA is the one.

"Those people on those committees that are making those decisions to allow something so ridiculous. … I just don’t agree with it."

Nnaji never actually played in the NBA or the G League, but he did appear in five NBA Summer League Games for the New York Knicks in July and played professionally overseas last season in Spain and Türkiye.

This isn't the first time a situation like Nnaji's has presented itself. In October, the NCAA ruled to allow guard London Johnson, 21, to join Louisville next year with two seasons of eligibility despite him having played three years in the G League.

Izzo revealed that he received a text from "a very famous, great coach" that criticized these fluid eligibility rules. "What we’ve done in the NCAA has been an absolute travesty to me," the message read, according to USA Today.

Izzo went on to predict that, if polled, "maybe 5-10%" of D-I coaches would agree with these changes.

"If that’s the way it is, and if I have to make those adjustments, then let’s make them," he added. "Let’s go pro if that’s the way it is, but let’s not be half you-know-what.

"Because there’s no such thing as being half that."

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