He'll go down as one of the greatest players to ever don the green and white on the hardwood in East Lansing, an he's now headed to the NBA.
Cassius Winston, who helped lead the Michigan State Spartans to three Big Ten regular season titles, was drafted 53rd overall by the Oklahoma City Thunder and then subsequently swapped to the Washington Wizards for Vit Krejci.
Winston is looking forward to joining the professional ranks, and has natural confidence in his abilities that helped make him a Michigan State legend.
“I trust myself, I trust my ability, I trust my work (and) I’ll put my money on me,” Winston said. “I got an opportunity and that’s really all I wanted. That was all I’ve been asking for the longest (time). There was a point in time where I wouldn’t even be in this situation that I’m in right now, so I’m grateful for the opportunity and I trust myself to make that work.”
He'll be teaming up with All-Stars Bradley Beal and John Wall, and is looking forward to learning from them.
“I’m super excited (to learn from Wall and Beal),” Winston said. “Both are very talented, both very successful guards in the NBA. Both of them are dawgs — play hard and they’re trying to win. I’m excited to go there, learn as much as I can. If they’re there, if they’re not there for long, I’m gonna try to learn as much from them as I can.”
For Winston, he's grateful for his time in East Lansing, and is looking forward to the new challenge of playing professionally in the nation's capital.
“I’m excited to just go somewhere and see something new,” Winston said. “It’s a fresh start — new city, new people, new vibe. (It’s) something to adjust to, grow to and something to figure out. It’s just something else to challenge myself, and I’m excited to do that. I love Michigan State, I love playing there, I love being there to death, but at some point it’s like ‘all right, we really got Michigan State, we got this figured out — let’s go try ourself at something else.’ I’m excited to go to a city like (Washington, D.C.), play for a team like (the Wizards), and get an opportunity to try to make something out of that.”
– – Quotes via Ryan O'Bleness of The Only Colors Link – –
