One of the biggest controversies of this summer’s NBA Draft revolved around Thon Maker and whether he was actually as old as he claimed to be. Prior to the draft, the Sudanese native’s official age was listed at 19, but after an old yearbook photo of him at his Australian high school in Perth listed him as a senior in 2010, he was thought to be as old as 24 or 25.
The uncertainty was enough to make his draft stock plummet, but the Milwaukee Bucks made sure he didn’t slip too far when they somewhat surprisingly selected him with the 10th overall pick. Fortunately for Maker, an old high school coach in Canada tried to put the question to rest when he tweeted a photo of Maker’s government-issued Australian passport from 2009 that lists his birthday as February 25, 1997, which of course would presumably confirm his insistence that he is 19.
But that hasn’t stopped the jokes from coming. Even Mavs owner Mark Cuban got in on the fun during a live broadcast of Summer League when he quipped that Maker wasn’t bad “for a 40-year-old.” Now, even his fellow rookies are giving him a hard time about it. Witness Celtics forward Jaylen Brown in the video below just straight up ask him how old he is.
https://twitter.com/CelticsJunkies/status/762449588552740864
Unfortunately for Maker, it’s probably not going to stop any time soon, unless, like President Obama, he can produce some sort of long-form birth certificate. And even then, hardcore truthers might never be convinced given their general skepticism toward things like logic and evidence.
