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Austin Thornton takes first shot at pro basketball five years after playing at Michigan State

Related Topics: Woe, Is Me

Austin Thornton is going about his post-Michigan State basketball career a bit backwards.

After finishing his college career in 2012, Thornton immediately got a real-world, non-basketball job working in human resources for a healthcare company in Grand rapids.

Three years later he got into coaching, when he went back to East Lansing to become a graduate assistant at Michigan State.

Now, five years after his college playing career ended, Thornton is taking his first shot at professional basketball.

"Long story short, kind of got the fire back going," Thornton said by phone this week from Bergamo, Italy.