Almost everyone knew Nix wouldn’t get kicked off the team, but Izzo could have at least made his player sweat a little more before reinstating him.

Holding the press conference the same day as Nix’s appearance in East Lansing’s 54-B District Court was a bit absurd. It gave off the image that Izzo quickly made up his mind and gave little thought to Nix’s punishment for his bad choices. Chances are it was a tough choice for the coach, but his quick announcement said otherwise.

Izzo’s announcement diverted attention from Nix’s guilty plead to his reinstatement. Instead of people talking about Nix’s confession, they were talking about Izzo’s decision to keep Nix on the team and whether or not that was the right decision.

During the presser, Izzo said he is setting strict ground rules this summer for Nix, which possibly could include game suspensions.

“I think there’s some probable things that will happen,” Izzo said. “Those are going to stay in-house until I meet with (Athletics Director Mark Hollis), my staff, with Derrick and watch his progress.”

Whatever punishments are handed to Nix will be dealt with behind closed doors, which is fitting given the lack of transparency with the MSU Athletics Department. Last season, Nix was taken off the roster for the Maui Invitational in Hawaii because, according to Izzo, he had “some personal issues” to deal with.

Around the time of the tournament, Nix allegedly considered transferring because of lack of playing time. He has quite the track record of poor behavior at MSU, and recent events only are adding to the list.

On the court, many could argue that he’s come along way, but this arrest proves he has some things he needs to work on off the court.

Being a student-athlete in the spotlight comes with a certain responsibility and reputation to uphold, especially because Nix has some very large shoes to fill. Now that senior forward Draymond Green played his last game as a Spartan, people were looking to Nix to fill that void as a captain and leader.

The entire student body looked at Green as a leader, and Nix should have been focusing on working his way up to that caliber rather than getting arrested and putting him, the coaching staff and MSU in an awkward position.

It’s disappointing that Nix would put himself in a situation where he could get arrested, and it’s disappointing the way Izzo handled it. Nix’s future on the team is fairly certain, but hopefully Izzo will make him work off his mistakes. Ideally, Nix should learn something from this experience and have his position as a leader put into perspective.