NBA Draft Prospect Thon Maker: Ignore My Mixtapes

Maker, of course, is the guy who beat the rules this year, leaping from prep school in Ontario straight to the NBA at age 19 as a player whose most well-known body of work is a two-minute, 42-second mixtape from February 2014. It’s all most people know, including some of the media members surrounding him. The video spawned headlines deeming him a Kevin Durant/Chris Paul hybrid, and the headline-grabby, click-baitey internet basketball culture chalked up a victory, perhaps at his expense. But even as his high school star diminished a bit, established college stars drew lesser crowds around the room. The world wants to know about Thon Maker, and he seems mostly okay with that.

How many places has he lived, total? “I don’t know,” he jokes. “Do the research.” Maker left South Sudan at six, came to the states at 13 and headed for Canada four years later as a spindly high school superstar and REVOLUTIONARY 7 FOOTER. Now, here, he’s just another guy with upside, wingspan and standing reach, hoping to make it.

“People gotta stop with the mixtape stuff,” Maker says, with a hint of exasperation. “That’s not me.”

Source: Jeremy Woo of Sports Illustrated