Have you heard the one about Thon Maker’s age? Mark Cuban has
Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban sat in on commentary during the Mavs’ Las Vegas Summer League meeting with the Milwaukee Bucks on Wednesday night, and when he was asked about Bucks first-round draft pick Thon Maker, he took the opportunity to make sure the viewers at home know he is up to date on all of the Internet goofs:
[Follow Dunks Don’t Lie on Tumblr: The best slams from all of basketball]
“For a 40-year-old, he can still play,” Cuban said, before slipping in a D’Angelo Russell phone joke, just for good measure.
if you’re reading an NBA blog on a Thursday afternoon in mid-July, you probably get the Maker joke. In case you don’t, though:
Maker is a skilled 7-footer born in the South Sudan who fled civil war to Uganda, moved as refugees to Australia and got discovered playing soccer before trying his hand at basketball after coming to the U.S.. With his length, athleticism and touch, he was hailed as a top hoops prospect, albeit one who moved around a lot. He declared for the NBA draft this spring and, despite never going to college, was ruled draft-eligible as a 19-year-old international player at least one year removed from graduating high school.
In the run-up to the 2016 NBA draft, rumors began to circulate that Maker — like Shabazz Muhammad and Tanguy Ngombo before him — wasn’t the age he claimed to be:
Several teams have entirely ruled Thon Maker out of the first round due to his age. Multiple sources believe Maker to be 21-23, not 19.
— Jake Fischer (@JakeLFischer) June 23, 2016
This sparked all manner of Internet sleuthing, with Sherlocks the world over unearthing old yearbook photos, school newsletters and an expired passport as circumstantial evidence to support claims that Maker was either well into his 20s or, in fact, 19, as he says he is.
Clearly, the rumors didn’t bother the Bucks, who stunned the league by selecting him at No. 10 overall:
“He’s 19 years old,” Bucks general manager John Hammond said after the draft. “That’s what we have record of and we’ve been through this before with international players. Sometimes guys get questioned on age, and it’s tough … [but] we’re comfortable with who he is and what he is.”
Even so, the jokes from folks like Cuban and others will keep flying … unless, of course, Maker can build on a Summer League showing that’s seen the 7-foot-1, 216-pound forward average 14.8 points (albeit on 39.2 percent shooting) to go with 9.8 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per game.
“We don’t want to rush the process getting him on the floor more quickly than could even be possible,” Hammond told SB Nation’s Mike Prada at Summer League. “It’s the same thing with the strength and conditioning. Let it happen methodically.”
While it happens, Cubes and others will crack jokes, and Maker will pay them no mind.
“[The rumors] did get to me in terms of me hearing about it, but it didn’t ‘get to me’ personally,” he said on draft night at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y. “Because if it were true, I’d probably be like sideways about it, but it’s not true, so I’m comfortable. I’m not pissed off or — oh, I’m not angry or anything.”
That’s probably a good thing for Cuban. It can be tough to stay out of the range of a dude with a 7-foot-3 wingspan.
More NBA coverage:
– – – – – – –
Dan Devine is an editor for Ball Don’t Lie on Yahoo Sports. Have a tip? Email him at devine@yahoo-inc.com or follow him on Twitter!
Stay connected with Ball Don’t Lie on Twitter @YahooBDL, “Like” BDL on Facebook and follow Dunks Don’t Lie on Tumblr for year-round NBA talk, jokes and more.
