Thon Maker is at least 23 years old

[7-12-52]

This is a very serious issue. Way worse than just lying about age when obtaining a visa. This MAN's actions can absolutely not be rewarded with an NBA contract.

Looking good at a sport against high school kids at 23-24 years old is not an impressive thing. He would not have been drafted if not for his criminal actions. Take any decent athlete that is all district the first time thru school and they will look like a phenom 5 years later.

Any contracts he has signed should be void based on obvious fraud and he needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent for his actions. He tainted every basketball game he played during the last 5 years and took the draft spot and hype of a truly worthy athlete.

[I_Like_Dirt]

Pfft. This kind of age stuff comes up all the time because there is all the incentive in the world to try to appear younger. Maker isn't the first and he won't be the last. Check out some of my favorites below:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-south-sudan-cusumano-1.3552121
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/feb/21/nigerian-football-age-old-problem
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ulker-implicated-in-ilyasova-scandal.aspx?pageID=438&n=ulker-implicated-in-ilyasova-scandal-2003-06-13

These players can sometimes, though certainly not always, turn out to be very good players who wouldn't have gotten an opportunity if it were known they were older. Doesn't make it right, but when only a select few have a shot to make millions of dollars and others get little to nothing, it's always going to be an issue with drafting players who's age isn't clear.

[7-12-52]

Pfft. This kind of age stuff comes up all the time because there is all the incentive in the world to try to appear younger. Maker isn't the first and he won't be the last. Check out some of my favorites below:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-south-sudan-cusumano-1.3552121
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/feb/21/nigerian-football-age-old-problem
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ulker-implicated-in-ilyasova-scandal.aspx?pageID=438&n=ulker-implicated-in-ilyasova-scandal-2003-06-13

These players can sometimes, though certainly not always, turn out to be very good players who wouldn't have gotten an opportunity if it were known they were older. Doesn't make it right, but when only a select few have a shot to make millions of dollars and others get little to nothing, it's always going to be an issue with drafting players who's age isn't clear.

That's the whole point. They are being given opportunities that people who played by the rules wouldn't be receiving. Lots of ex players can dominate HS kids at 23 years old... lots and lots.

[crkone]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Sky_Smith_/status/748228670020452352[/tweet]



lol

[Tinseltown]

And the next time someone tries to claim that RealGM isn't full of racists, I'm pointing to this topic.

[In SVG We Trust]

And the next time someone tries to claim that RealGM isn't full of racists, I'm pointing to this topic.

You the champ

[IggyStardust]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Sky_Smith_/status/748228670020452352[/tweet]



lol

reddit detectives once again exposed as keystone cops.

[yeahM8]

I dunno..

When I was 14 my friend in high school went back to his native home of Indonesia and bribed some cops to get a licence.

He then proceeded to get an international licence and used these to get an Australian licence.

We would drive around at 14 legally. Looking back it I remember he could barely see over the steering wheel.

Also being from Perth I know crew that balled with him (and his brother?) I'll see what they have to say..

[Kerrsed]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Sky_Smith_/status/748228670020452352[/tweet]



lol

reddit detectives once again exposed as keystone cops.

No one is denying that he has paperwork saying he was born in 1997. Have you learned nothing from all these posts?

[Hindenburg]

who is this Sky Smith Twitter guy? His last 40 posts on twitter are all about Thon Maker. What is his role in this?

[Appwrangler]

reddit detectives once again exposed as keystone cops.

No one is denying that he has paperwork saying he was born in 1997. Have you learned nothing from all these posts?

No.

[oceanlife]

This is a very serious issue. Way worse than just lying about age when obtaining a visa. This MAN's actions can absolutely not be rewarded with an NBA contract.

Looking good at a sport against high school kids at 23-24 years old is not an impressive thing. He would not have been drafted if not for his criminal actions. Take any decent athlete that is all district the first time thru school and they will look like a phenom 5 years later.

Any contracts he has signed should be void based on obvious fraud and he needs to be prosecuted to the fullest extent for his actions. He tainted every basketball game he played during the last 5 years and took the draft spot and hype of a truly worthy athlete.

Of course the Bucks front office will need to stand behind Thon's age because otherwise they are shown to be incompetent. The league will stand behind Thon's age because otherwise they too look incompetent. But the evidence is overwhelming that the kid is not 19.

I think it's hard for Americans to realize how easy it is to falsify documents in other countries. In China it's super common for parents to make their kids older to get them in school faster. In African countries that have gone through war you're lucky to get anything resembling a notarized document on anyone.

I get why Thon's family would do it, doors opened up for him that never could have opened up otherwise. He had a chance to get into a western country and have a chance at the NBA. Unfortunately it's a serious legal issue if he had a girlfriend while in high school and it's shown he was actually 23.

Best of luck to Bucks fans, but you got had.

[EireannX]

And the next time someone tries to claim that RealGM isn't full of racists, I'm pointing to this topic.

What does this topic have to do with racism?

It's not like there is a topic like this for every black player, or even most black players.

Calling out 3 players from a few hundred black players in the league is the opposite of racism.

[EireannX]

[tweet]https://twitter.com/Sky_Smith_/status/748228670020452352[/tweet]



lol

reddit detectives once again exposed as keystone cops.

Player is accused of getting updated birth certificate so they can get their official documentation changed so they can start HS In America.

Documentation used to travel to America to start HS is shown.

Somehow you take that as proof that the first bit didn't happen?

He had to have official documentation with the 'fake' age on it for any scam to work, if there were a scam.

[har13]

Thon is the only human in the world who gradueded from school in 2010 and drafted in 2016 as 19...thats why they call him Maker..

[Slartibartfast]

Pfft. This kind of age stuff comes up all the time because there is all the incentive in the world to try to appear younger. Maker isn't the first and he won't be the last. Check out some of my favorites below:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/windsor/windsor-south-sudan-cusumano-1.3552121
https://www.theguardian.com/football/2010/feb/21/nigerian-football-age-old-problem
http://www.hurriyetdailynews.com/ulker-implicated-in-ilyasova-scandal.aspx?pageID=438&n=ulker-implicated-in-ilyasova-scandal-2003-06-13

These players can sometimes, though certainly not always, turn out to be very good players who wouldn't have gotten an opportunity if it were known they were older. Doesn't make it right, but when only a select few have a shot to make millions of dollars and others get little to nothing, it's always going to be an issue with drafting players who's age isn't clear.

It's fraud. Hilarious fraud, but still fraud.

Now if you'll excuse me, I have some beautiful copper engravings of Abraham Lincoln to sell.

[Ice Trae]

oh man, the back and forth is just crazy. Welp, since the passport is government issued, I'm just going to believe that. Until there is documentation which proves that he had his DOB changed, he's 19 to me.

[canibaljay]

He'll still end up playing in the NBA regardless of what comes out of this. If he's found out to be older, he would probably get suspended from the NBA, and won't be able to return until he gets a work visa (which would be incredibly quick for an athlete). The Bucks will probably keep his contract too, and not lose out on a draft pick entirely.

Something similar happened in the MLB with Roberto Hernández. At the time he was pitching for Cleveland as Fausto Carmona, and was found out to be using someone else's paperwork and was actually 3 years older than previously stated.

[Bernman]

oh man, the back and forth is just crazy. Welp, since the passport is government issued, I'm just going to believe that. Until there is documentation which proves that he had his DOB changed, he's 19 to me.

The realistic issue was always the potential discrepancy between his actual age and what they got listed on his papers when he originally entered the country from one that was war-torn and 3rd world so as to not have created a legitimate birth certificate for him. Thon himself may have not known how old he was. There is inherent suspicion here from his situation as well as the history of Sudanese immigrating, then having unreliable documentation.

This suspicion was then naturally supported by evidence that he was in 9th grade almost 10 years ago as indicated by school announcements, a '10 graduation photo, and multiple classmates of his anecdotal reports.

These events were never properly refuted. The claim was he was in ESL school, and that's what he graduated from, but then why did it say year 9 almost 10 years ago?

The theory that's been circulating for a while, and most fits with what we know now, is that he graduated from an Australian High school in '10 with a legal age of about 14 but when he was perceived to be about 17 by school officials from suspicious documents and the same ones most have now as to why he'd be older, so they re-classified him. Then he retook h.s. in the States when his legal age was 14-15, because he wasn't near eligible to go pro then, wanted experience in the basketball scene, and to showcase himself. In my opinion, there was nothing really wrong with that, so long as it was disclosed. But he stagnated later on, so his handler hid him in Canada for a year, instead of allowing him to potentially be exposed in one year of college in the interim (also if he indeed went through h.s., twice, that would have likely come out then). Worked enough to be somewhat of a mystery man still since it got him drafted in the top 10. As they picked apart members of the class, like Labissiere who had a disappointing freshman season at Kentucky, but still badly out-played him in the previous Hoops Summit, he moved up at least one team's board. That's all it takes.

[thamadkant]

Have any media outlets gone after this? It seems like something pretty easily proven or disproven with some minimal investigation at that first Australian HS.

The school is saying they won't release any info about it unless they have his permission due to privacy concerns.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

Which is the CORRECT thing to do..

as opposed to some who have posted names of innocent by standers online.