NBA rumors: Thon Maker might be 23 years old
By John Buhler
There have long been rumors that Milwaukee Bucks’ No. 10 overall pick Thon Maker is older than his purported age of 19. Now a Reddit user offers evidence that Maker might be closer to 23 than 19 years old.
An interesting thread on Reddit appeared on Monday that takes a deep dive into the age of the No. 10 overall pick by the Milwaukee Bucks in Sudanese-Australian seven-footer Thon Maker. Maker has been considered a Kevin Garnett-type of prospect with a 7’3″ wingspan and the ability to handle the basketball like a small forward, but how old is this guy?
Reddit user /u/bigcritic showed a stunning yearbook photo that says Maker supposedly graduated from Aranmore Catholic College in Perth, Australia, arguing that Maker was part of that high school’s 2010 graduating class.
The timeline that follows in the thread argues that a seedy Australian talent scout ‘discovered’ Maker and to improve both his find and Maker’s ability to get drafted despite being way too raw at 18 to rebrand his as a 14-year-old basketball prodigy from Sudan.
Essentially, if his ninth grade year book photo from 2007 and his senior yearbook photo from 2010 are true, then Maker has been bouncing around high school basketball circuits for the last six years as a player actually in his early 20s.
Even if he is as old as the Reddit thread claims Maker to be, he’s still a seven-footer with decent dribbling ability that can make a huge impact in Jason Kidd’s defense in Milwaukee from day one.
Kidd and Maker are represented by the same agent in Jeff Schwartz. Milwaukee almost certainly targeted Maker to build what could be an unthinkable defense with several guys with over seven-foot wingspans: Maker, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Jabari Parker, Greg Monroe, John Henson.
The offered evidence here should be taken with a grain of salt. While being possibly as old as 23 years of age, it’s not really a big deal for the Bucks because they’ll have to absolutely take on Maker as a developmental project on the offensive end. Maker’s legend continues to grow in the social media age.
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