Jaden Akins, from Farmington Hills and Michigan State, is playing a new position for the Motor City Cruise, the Detroit Pistons' G League team.
Jaden Akins was a quintessential Michigan State basketball player during his four-year career.
Like many who have flourished under iconic coach Tom Izzo, Akins played a small role as a freshman but quickly flourished into a standout. As a senior co-captain in 2024-25, Akins was named third-team All-Big Ten and to the conference’s All-Defensive Team while leading the Spartans in scoring.
His last year of college ended with a Big Ten championship and trip to the Elite Eight.
Almost a year later with the Detroit Pistons' G League affiliate Motor City Cruise, Akins is playing professional basketball and thriving at a position he’d never been asked to play before − point guard.
Akins has been one of the top ball-handlers in the G League, averaging 18.4 points and 6.5 assists in 24 games through Tuesday, shooting 45.6% overall and 37.2% from 3. He’s leading the Cruise both in assists and is second in points per game among players with 10 or more games, narrowly behind Pistons two-way center Tolu Smith (18.6 points).
“I feel like it’s been a lot of ups and downs,” Akins, a 6-foot-4 guard, told the Free Press on Tuesday, Jan. 13, of his time with the Cruise, which are 9-15 through the regular season and tip-off tournament. “I’ve had some individual success. I feel like we’ve gotta get some more team success to be able to reach the goals that I want to reach. I’ve been getting better every day, taking every day with a grain of salt, putting my head down and grinding.”
Akins went undrafted after graduating from MSU. But after playing for the Orlando Magic during NBA Summer League, the Farmington Hills native signed an Exhibit 10 deal with the Pistons in October and was subsequently waived, paving his path to the Cruise.
Exhibit 10 contracts are one-year, nonguaranteed contracts that include a monetary bonus of up to $85,300 this season if the player is waived and then spends at least 60 days with their G League affiliate.
Cruise head coach Jamelle McMillan said Akins was initially supposed to be the team’s third guard, but injuries and opportunity thrust him into a bigger role. Two-way guard Daniss Jenkins hasn’t played for the Cruise this season after carving out a role for the Pistons, and Cruise guard Quincy Olivari missed the early portion of the season with a hamstring injury.
“Jaden became one of my favorite guys back in September,” McMillan said. “Just his face when he walked in, you could tell the culture he came from, it fit here. He is my type of kid, my type of player, my type of guy.”
McMillan said he sees parallels between Jenkins’ first season with the Cruise and Akins’. Jenkins, too, was one of the G League’s top guards and has since emerged as a bonafide NBA rotation player with the Pistons, likely to sign a standard contract, appearing in 31 of their 38 games with six starts this season.
“We’ve gotta get him as disruptive on defense like he was back at State, but Jaden’s a winner, man,” McMillan added. “He’s a kid that keeps his mouth shut, and he has the right presentation, the right face every day. He’s a guy I’ll get behind any day of the week. I’m happy that he’s here.”
Akins didn’t purposefully intend to stay close to home, but the Cruise ended up being a strong fit. Beyond the opportunity on the floor, he also already had ties with associate head coach Marcus Stout, a Detroit native and Renaissance graduate, and Cruise president of basketball operations Durand “Speedy” Walker, who founded local AAU club “The Family” that Akins and many other local prospects have played for.
“I would say my coaches’ belief in me and the support system I have around me,” Akins said. “I see a lot of familiar faces I know here and it’s really allowed me to play my game and grow. I know they want the best from me and want me to continue to get better.
“Definitely a blessing. I feel like not many people get to play basketball in their home town like that. I feel like it’s just a blessing and thankfully I don’t have distractions at home that makes home bad for me. It’s just a good experience for me.”
Akins credits his lessons learned under Izzo for his fast start. Rather than go overseas, he wanted to spend at least a year chasing his dream of playing for the NBA. He’s on the right track so far.
“He’s stepped up to the curve, man, and he’s a student,” McMillan said. “He listens. And a lot of guys at this level, they don’t listen. They hear you but they don’t listen to you, and he listens to you. That’s a testament to the culture he’s come from, he didn’t have a choice there with Izzo and everything.
“It’s turning the corner for him. I think we’re about to take off here. I’m really excited about what’s coming up the next couple weeks. And he’s at the head of that. He’s the start of that. I do think he has a real chance.”
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Contact Omari Sankofa II at [email protected]. Follow him on X @omarisankofa.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: Jaden Akins thriving with Pistons' G League team Motor City Cruise
Category: General Sports
