Since Thon Maker unexpectedly became the No. 10 overall pick in last week’s draft, the NBA Reddit community has taken it upon themselves to figure out the big man prospect’s actual age. Supposedly, he’s 19, but someone dug up a yearbook photo that puts him in the 2010 graduating class at Aranmore Catholic College, a high school in Perth, Australia.
Now, there’s an archived Aranmore school newsletter from 2007 that lists Maker as a freshman, which would be consistent with the 2010 graduation timeline.
If Maker was 18 when he graduated high school, the 2010 graduation photo puts him at 24 years old now, meaning he’s spent the past six years playing against high-school competition, padding his draft stock. He still has a ton of physical talent and the Bucks undoubtedly did their due diligence on him and didn’t make the pick blind. But it’s a little embarrassing for them if Maker truly turns out to be five years older than he says he is.
With how raw he is as a prospect, it would give him less leeway to develop at his own pace. It’s a lot easier to talk yourself into taking a project big man that high in the draft when he’s 19 and would be in his early 20s by the end of his rookie deal after four years in the league. If Maker is really 24, he only has a few years to go before he reaches his physical prime, and has to grow into an NBA contributor basically right away to justify the pick.
The whole thing is just really weird and maybe it’s all an elaborate hoax, but the evidence is growing harder and harder to ignore.
