Michigan State’s Miles Bridges has declared for the NBA Draft. In a social media post, Bridges shared his gratitude to the people who impacted him leading up to the decision to turn pro.
“God couldn’t have placed me in a better place for these last two years. I wanna thank Coach Izzo and the rest of the coaching staff for giving a skinny kid from Flint a chance to play at such a legendary program. I would like to thank the academic support for helping me out everyday. I also want to thank Spartan Nation for welcoming me with open arms into their community and school. And last but not least I would like to thank my teammates for the bond and memories that we will share for a lifetime. I will be a spartan for life no matter what!! With that being said I am entering the 2018 NBA draft and I am signing with Rich Paul and @klutchsports.”
Bridges averaged 17.1 points, 7.0 rebounds and 2.1 assists as a sophomore this season and was a consensus All-American at Michigan State. He is among 10 players up for the Naismith Trophy and among 5 finalists for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award.
Despite being a likely lottery pick in 2017, Bridges chose to remain in school and play a second season with the Spartans.
“Miles wanted to come back to school this year because he loved Michigan State, he loved his teammates and friends and he loved being part of this community,” Michigan State coach Tom Izzo said in a statement. “I think I speak for all of Spartan Nation in thanking him for how he represented us and for all of the great things he helped us achieve.”
In an ESPN article back in November, Bridges shared how he believes his purpose is to use the game of basketball to impact people on a much bigger level.
“I feel like my purpose is to use basketball as a platform to help people get closer to God,” Bridges told Carvell Wallace of ESPN. “I feel like I could reach a lot of people once I get to the NBA.”
Bridges went on to share that his desire is not to seek religion but to preach relationship, both with others and more importantly with the Lord.
“I’m not religious,” Bridges told Wallace. “I just have a great relationship. It’s not about religion; it’s about the relationship. The relationship that you have with God. Everybody in the NBA knows about God. They just feel like if they express it then they wouldn’t get cool points from that.”
The NBA Draft takes place June 21, 2018 in Brooklyn, NY at the Barclays Center. Early projections from Bleacher Report have him being selected in the lottery.
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