Tag: branden dawson

Pair of former Spartans to play for Team HeartFIRE in upcoming TBT event

A pair of former Michigan State Spartans will be playing for Team HeartFIRE in the upcoming TBT event that begins next month.

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A pair of former Michigan State Spartans will be playing for Team HeartFIRE in the upcoming TBT event that begins next month.

Branden Dawson and Brandon Wood will both be members of Team HeartFIRE. The squad also includes three players from Baylor and will be coached by Homer Drew.

Team HeartFire is listed as a No. 11 seed and will begin play in the TBT on July 24. Games throughout the event will be televised on ESPN.

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Taiwanese Spartans supporting Branden Dawson in a big way while he plays in Taiwan

Branden Dawson recently started playing in Taiwan and the local Spartans there have come out in droves to support him.

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Michigan State Football and Basketball are both in full swing, but my favorite Spartan story of the winter might be happening in Taiwan.

As we covered a few weeks back, former Michigan State star Branden Dawson was recently signed by Jeoutai Technology of Taiwan’s Super Basketball League. That news was first relayed to MSU fans on Facebook by Tiger Chang, a Taiwanese Spartan and a major fan of Spartan hoops. Now that Dawson is in Taiwan, Chang has rallied a ton of support for Dawson, who is now getting his own MSU cheering section at SBL games:

Tiger Chang
Photo courtesy of Tiger Chang
Tiger Chang
Photo courtesy of Tiger Chang

As Spartan fans in the United States, we can sometimes take for granted that we can easily (outside of a pandemic) go see Michigan State play games at the Breslin, or go see an NBA game with Miles Bridges, Draymond Green, etc. In Taiwan, that’s not really a possibility. Tiger Chang told me what this experience has meant to him personally:

“It is a dream come true for me. For a Spartan for life person like me, I couldn’t imagine that one day there is a Spartan basketball player playing on my home land, Taiwan. Branden is the first Spartan men’s basketball player playing in Taiwan. This means a lot to me and many Spartans in Taiwan.” -Tiger Chang

Tiger Chang
Photo courtesy of Tiger Chang

Chang has been covering the games in the Michigan State Recruiting & News Facebook group, and according to him, Dawson has been huge for Jeuotai, recording double-doubles while leading the team to multiple victories.

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Go Green!

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Report: Former Michigan State forward Branden Dawson signs with Taiwanese Basketball team

According to a report, former Michigan State basketball standout Branden Dawson is heading to Taiwan.

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Former Michigan State Basketball standout forward Branden Dawson has found a new temporary home. According to a fellow Michigan State fan in the Michigan State Recruiting & News Facebook page, Tiger Chan, Dawson will play with Jeotai Technology of Taiwan’s SBL (Super Basketball League).

Dawson started his career with the Los Angeles Clippers, where he played from 2015-16. After that, he bounced around the G League for a few seasons before he headed overseas. Since then, he has played in Israel, Japan, and Mexico before now heading to Taiwan where he will play until May.

Dawson will play his first game in the SBL on Dec. 6 at 2:00 a.m. EST.

Dawson was a top 20 recruit coming out of high school before having a stellar career at MSU as a bruising power forward. Dawson was a great player who definitely earned his shot in the NBA, but his size wasn’t a great fit. At 6’6″, his interior play didn’t translate as well to the NBA, but he seems to be putting together a nice career on the international circuit.

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Former MSU Basketball Forward Nick Ward signs with Team Big X for The Basketball Tournament

Former Michigan State Basketball Forward Nick Ward signed with Team Big X and is participating in The Basketball Tournament this summer!

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The Basketball Tournament is a thrilling 5-on-5, winner takes all tournament for a grand prize of $2 million. Today, we learned former Michigan State basketball Forward Nick Ward signed with the Big Ten alumni squad, Team Big X.

Ward joins Ohio State alumni Andrew Dakich and Andre & Kaleb Wesson on Team Big X.

Ward scored a remarkable 1,350 career points during his three-year tenure at Michigan State. He was also a part of the memorable 2019 Final Four run. Last season, he played for the Atlanta Hawks G-League affiliate team, the College Park Skyhawks, averaging 13.2 points per game.

Nick Ward is not the only former Spartan in this tournament. Branden Dawson & Brandon Wood both joined Team Heartfire less than 10 days ago. Also, former MSU guards Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers both signed with Team Detroit earlier this month.

Yesterday, Myron Medcalf of ESPN reported that The Basketball Tournament is set still set for July.

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Branden Dawson and Brandon Wood join Team Heartfire for The Basketball Tournament

Dawson and Wood make four former Michigan State players to join the summer tournament.

The Basketball Tournament is filling up with Michigan State alums.

After Kalin Lucas and Durrell Summers joined Team Detroit last week, former Spartans Branden Dawson and Brandon Wood have signed with Team Heartfire for The Basketball Tournament.

Dawson played for Michigan State from 2011-2015, helping the Spartans advance to the 2015 Final Four. He was a second-round pick in the 2015 NBA Draft. He played for Israeli basketball club Bnei Herzliya in 2019.

Wood joined MSU as a graduate transfer for one season in 2012. He currently plays professionally for Libertadores de Querétaro in Mexico.

The Basketball Tournament is an open-application 64-team single-elimination tournament where teams compete for a $2 million winner-take-all grand prize. It is a really cool display of former collegiate stars and professional players outside of the NBA and is high level basketball. The winner of the 2019 TBT–Carmen’s Crew–was made up mostly of former Ohio State basketball players including Aaron Craft, William Buford, and player/coach Jared Sullinger.

TBT 2020 is scheduled to begin at the end of July, but that–along with most every sporting event–is certainly subject to change due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

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