Joshua Langford stepping away from basketball

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MSU guard Joshua Langford directs traffic in the Spartans’ 64-58 home win over Indiana/ Photo Credit: MSU Athletic Communications

Manit Patel, General Assignment Reporter

EAST LANSING — In a heartfelt message today, former Spartans men’s basketball player Joshua Langford announced he would not be continuing his basketball career professionally. He elected to step away from the game after five exceptional seasons for the Spartans.

In his time at Michigan State, Langford showed great promise and played a key role both on the court and in the locker room as a two-time captain. He gave a glimpse of his high level of skill when he averaged 15 points per game while shooting 44.3% from the field and 40.3% from the three-point line during his junior season. However, that season was cut short by a left foot injury, causing Langford to miss the remainder of the games after playing only 13.

That same foot injury would haunt him the following year as well, as it sidelined him for the entire season. While the season was cut short by COVID-19, many analysts considered the Spartans as one of the most lethal teams in March, a team which only would have improved with the addition of Langford for the postseason.

Langford joined the Spartans as a highly touted recruit in one of the greatest recruiting classes in school history. Langford was the second highest-ranked player in the class touting a 0.9923 247Sports composite rating, good for a ranking of 19th in the country. Along with Langford, that MSU recruiting class included Miles Bridges, Cassius Winston and Nick Ward. 

While Langford’s career was extremely promising, MSU fans never got to see it truly come to fruition. His impact on the program and the younger guys in the locker room is boundless. Langford is a great basketball player, an even better person, and truly had a great positive impact on the Spartan Basketball program. The Spartan faithful are surely wishing him the best of luck.