ESPN’s Woo mocks Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr. to the Suns with No. 47 pick in 2026 draft
ESPN's Jeremy Woo mocks the Suns taking a point guard from Michigan State with their lone pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
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With the 2026 NBA Draft lottery order set, ESPN’s Jeremy Woo had the Phoenix Suns taking a point guard from a familiar college in his first mock.
Woo mocked Michigan State’s Jeremy Fears Jr. to the Suns with the No. 47 pick (via the Philadelphia 76ers), their only pick in this year’s draft.
Fears is coming off an impressive junior year with the Spartans, where he averaged 15.2 points (on 43.1% shooting), a Division 1-leading 9.4 assists and 2.4 rebounds per game. A highlight of Fears’ junior season was in the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, where he dished out 16 assists to go with 12 points in the Spartans’ 77-69 win over Louisville.
The Suns have several ties to Michigan State within the organization. Owner Mat Ishbia played for the Spartans for four seasons (1999-2002), winning a national championship in 2000. General manager Brian Gregory had two stints as an assistant coach under Tom Izzo (1990-96, 1999-2003), while head coach Jordan Ott is a former MSU graduate assistant and video coordinator.
How would Fears fit on the Suns?
Fears could give the Suns a legitimate point guard option, as Devin Booker largely played in that role last season despite being more of a shooting guard.
Collin Gillespie started 58 of 80 games played this season, handling secondary playmaking duties behind Booker. Gillespie is an unrestricted free agent this offseason, but the Suns do have his early-bird rights, a cap exception that allows Phoenix to go over the salary cap to retain him.
Gillespie said after the Suns’ season ended that he’d like to be back in Phoenix and that “the front office knows that, everybody knows that in the building.”
Fears could also bring more free throws to the Suns, an area they lacked in 2025-26. Fears led the Big Ten last season with 184 free-throw makes (88.5%), while the Suns were 28th in makes (15.8 per game) during the regular season and 15th out of 16 teams (15.8) during the playoffs.
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Comments
6 Comments
I don’t have a problem with Jeremy Fears at 47th. Just taking a shot at the “plumbers” writing for this site.
Slim pickings at 47.
Another guard possibility is Bruce Thornton from Ohio St.
A long forward candidate is Trevon Brazile...6' 10" from Arkansas.
Jeremy Fears Jr.? Jeremiah Fears is the Pelicans rookie point guard sensation having been selected 7th overall last summer. The Board Operator missed the connection and the Suns history of ending up with the worse brother.
Jeremy Fears Jr. happens to be the older brother despite still playing in college. Jeremy born on April 19, 2005. Jeremiah born on October 14, 2006.Their father is Jeremy Fears Sr. who played two seasons at Ohio University, redshirted then played one season at Bradley University before leaving the program. Dad played in low-tier leagues in Europe.