Mohamed Dabone

[peZt]

Its really a disgrace. I mean it is biologically impossible for a 12 year old to be this tall, this big, this strong AND this coordinated and athletic with his body. Look at Wemby's clips at 13. He was smaller than Dabone but yet moved like Slenderman on skates.

A real shame that something like this is allowed and even worse that a club like Barcelona is engaging in such obvious fraud.

[Mickey8]

Its called cheating. This guy is competing in Spain at U14 competition. While he's listed as 16 years old at FIBA page. We don't know for sure if that's true too. Since they are lying about his age everywhere. Its not just Barcelona that is doing this, its pretty much all Spanish clubs,Italian clubs etc. They just been caught red handed and nobody cares

[FarBeyondDriven]

He looks 17 y/o to me but what do I know? Reminds me of Thon Maker

[JMAC3]

We will know in 6 yrs when he is an average player in europe that his age was wrong. He is so far away from actually being able to financially benefit from lying about the age I doubt it pays off for him in the end.

[pad300]

We will know in 6 yrs when he is an average player in europe that his age was wrong. He is so far away from actually being able to financially benefit from lying about the age I doubt it pays off for him in the end.

Dude, perspective. If he's lying about his age, he's already got a better education (at Barca's academy) than he would in Africa, and the roof over his head and his meals paid for. If he makes it as an "average player in europe", well, that's probably multiplying his lifetime earnings by 50x or more, compared to random kid growing up in Africa...

[Mickey8]

If??? I posted here FIBA page where he's listed as 16 years old,they also lying about country where he's born, he's listed under two different countries.

[peZt]

We will know in 6 yrs when he is an average player in europe that his age was wrong. He is so far away from actually being able to financially benefit from lying about the age I doubt it pays off for him in the end.

Dude, perspective. If he's lying about his age, he's already got a better education (at Barca's academy) than he would in Africa, and the roof over his head and his meals paid for. If he makes it as an "average player in europe", well, that's probably multiplying his lifetime earnings by 50x or more, compared to random kid growing up in Africa...

But he would have gotten that education if he just aged faked himself by 1-2 years as well. He is clearly talented. But he made himself so young that by the time he could sign his first pro contract, everybody will be aware that he faked his age. And good teams wont be willing to sign him, unless he is really really good.

When you fake your age, you gotta fake it by 2 years max. That's the little wiggle area where its hard to disprove that your age is fake. But 4-5 years is crazy lmao. Its so obvious. And by the time he is 17-18 teams will know that he is actually 23 and that he doesnt have the upside. So he needs to be good enough at 18 that teams sign him based on his performance from the get go cause they wont sign him based on upside.

So by just faking himself by 2 years he couldve gotten a great education AND a good pro contract

[The-Power]

If??? I posted here FIBA page where he's listed as 16 years old,they also lying about country where he's born, he's listed under two different countries.

He's most definitely not 12 but a random FIFA page is not going to be definitive proof of anything either. He played for Togo in that event – that does not mean he wasn't born in Burkina Faso (what's even the incentive to lie about this?). They also don't know his real age for sure. Why? Because there's a chance he himself doesn't know it either; or if he or the people around him do, they have no incentive to clarify this now.

My guess would be that he is listed as 16 on that page because it was an U16 event (it's not like this is a profile and website otherwise created with care). Or do you think FIBA has official documents proving he's 16 and all the European competitions somehow accept declarations that he's 12 or 13? That obviously doesn't make any sense. Odds are that his true date of birth is unknown because he lacks proper documentation, and short of doing genetic testing (which isn't fully accurate either but can give you a ballpark number) we'll likely never really know his true age.

Also, let's step back for a second and not ascribe him all the agency à la ‘he is a cheater and purposely lied’. We have no idea who did what and for what reasons when it comes to his journey to Spain and his age declaration, and I refuse to judge a kid for potentially doing what he was told, saying what he believed to be true, or doing what he felt like he had to in order to make it out of a bad situation. He's still not an adult, after all.

[Mickey8]

The FIBA page is the proof that they are lying about his age and the country of origin. He could be 16,18,20+, he for sure is not 12 or younger.I didn't even need that Fiba page, everyone can see by their own eye that he doesn't look or move on the court like 12 years old kid.

[Mickey8]

If??? I posted here FIBA page where he's listed as 16 years old,they also lying about country where he's born, he's listed under two different countries.

He's most definitely not 12 but a random FIFA page is not going to be definitive proof of anything either. He played for Togo in that event – that does not mean he wasn't born in Burkina Faso (what's even the incentive to lie about this?). They also don't know his real age for sure. Why? Because there's a chance he himself doesn't know it either; or if he or the people around him do, they have no incentive to clarify this now.

My guess would be that he is listed as 16 on that page because it was an U16 event (it's not like this is a profile and website otherwise created with care). Or do you think FIBA has official documents proving he's 16 and all the European competitions somehow accept declarations that he's 12 or 13? That obviously doesn't make any sense. Odds are that his true date of birth is unknown because he lacks proper documentation, and short of doing genetic testing (which isn't fully accurate either but can give you a ballpark number) we'll likely never really know his true age.

Also, let's step back for a second and not ascribe him all the agency à la ‘he is a cheater and purposely lied’. We have no idea who did what and for what reasons when it comes to his journey to Spain and his age declaration, and I refuse to judge a kid for potentially doing what he was told, saying what he believed to be true, or doing what he felt like he had to in order to make it out of a bad situation. He's still not an adult, after all.

At every FIBA event. Countries who are participating in the events have to send players documentations, date of birth, where they were born etc. His club is obviously lying , he's registered to play against the players 4,5 years younger than him. That's cheating and that player is aware of that too.

[sisibilio]

He's soon to be 14* though, so probably past his prime

[lambchop]

If??? I posted here FIBA page where he's listed as 16 years old,they also lying about country where he's born, he's listed under two different countries.

He's most definitely not 12 but a random FIFA page is not going to be definitive proof of anything either. He played for Togo in that event – that does not mean he wasn't born in Burkina Faso (what's even the incentive to lie about this?). They also don't know his real age for sure. Why? Because there's a chance he himself doesn't know it either; or if he or the people around him do, they have no incentive to clarify this now.

My guess would be that he is listed as 16 on that page because it was an U16 event (it's not like this is a profile and website otherwise created with care). Or do you think FIBA has official documents proving he's 16 and all the European competitions somehow accept declarations that he's 12 or 13? That obviously doesn't make any sense. Odds are that his true date of birth is unknown because he lacks proper documentation, and short of doing genetic testing (which isn't fully accurate either but can give you a ballpark number) we'll likely never really know his true age.

Also, let's step back for a second and not ascribe him all the agency à la ‘he is a cheater and purposely lied’. We have no idea who did what and for what reasons when it comes to his journey to Spain and his age declaration, and I refuse to judge a kid for potentially doing what he was told, saying what he believed to be true, or doing what he felt like he had to in order to make it out of a bad situation. He's still not an adult, after all.

At every FIBA event. Countries who are participating in the events have to send players documentations, date of birth, where they were born etc. His club is obviously lying , he's registered to play against the players 4,5 years younger than him. That's cheating and that player is aware of that too.

It's not really possible for the club to lie, because, at least in Spain, all the players are registered with their passport/ID numbers or what is called a NIE aka an official foreigners document. That includes youth players and amateurs. I can remember that wasn't necessary at all when I played in Germany, but it is in Spain.

So the club would essentially have to fake an official document just to win a couple of extra youth tournaments? That's highly unlikely. That said, there is of course a possibility he simply lied about his age during the some government registration process. The incentive for migrants to lie about their age is simply huge and can even mean the difference between being considered just another basketball player or an NBA draft pick/millionaire in this extreme case with Dabone.

[sisibilio]

[sisibilio]

He looks 17 y/o to me but what do I know? Reminds me of Thon Maker

He's more explosive and fluid though