Thon Maker is at least 23 years old

[phanman]

Think about how many people say that Ibaka is declining in his mid-late twenties because he lied about his age and he's really over 30 (despite there being no evidence at all for this other than his declining statistics) and yet there's no one saying the same thing about Kevin Love, another power forward declining in his mid-late twenties. It'd make an awful lot of sense if Kevin Love was losing athleticism because he's really 32, but no one would ever say or think that because he's not from Africa.

Love isn't necessarily declining he just has been adjusting to being the 3rd option after having been the first option in Minnesota. He wasn't that athletic to begin with either

[AndriPerdhian93]

I believe it, something like this happening so many time on other sport like football etc. African (no racist intended just fact) is well know for something like this.

It's racist because people say this about every African player that looks old for their age even when there's no evidence.

Everyone, and I mean everyone said Mutombo was 5 years older than his true age until he was able to prove them wrong by playing well at age 40+.

http://espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2735070

If Mutombo had even had a normal career and retired around 35, everyone now would point to him as an example of an African player lying about his age.

Well no coment about mutombo or ibaka because we dont have a solid evidence about it, but it was already well know and fact in football especially in a country with a messed up youth sistem recruitment for example ivory coast and camerun . Age cheating is real and usually they do it because they discover talent that was already to old to go to youth academy and of course its bad for nba if they not prevent it.

[DaddyCool19]

Think about how many people say that Ibaka is declining in his mid-late twenties because he lied about his age and he's really over 30 (despite there being no evidence at all for this other than his declining statistics) and yet there's no one saying the same thing about Kevin Love, another power forward declining in his mid-late twenties. It'd make an awful lot of sense if Kevin Love was losing athleticism because he's really 32, but no one would ever say or think that because he's not from Africa.

Love isn't necessarily declining he just has been adjusting to being the 3rd option after having been the first option in Minnesota. He wasn't that athletic to begin with either

And wasn't his father a basketball pro and his uncle a member of the beach boys? To fake your sons birth date in the United States would be really hard if you are somewhat of a celebrity wouldn't it?

[bondom34]

I actually work heavily with conspiracy, unexplained phenomenon and the like. I'm usually pretty damn good at spotting doctored evidence like photos. These look legitimate to me and it falls in line with what I already told you about how most teams took him off the draft board because with conviction they believe Maker to be 21-23 years old, not 19. So you're claiming draftexpress is the guru, yet why were most NBA teams ruling him out against their advice? Doesn't add up chief.

Actually what doesn't add up is people claiming a random internet poster would know more about this than both the US government and a bunch of people literally paid to do this.

I'd add that it doesn't say in the yearbook he's in the graduating class. It just has him at the school that year.

If I'm wrong I'm wrong, but going off a reddit post isn't proving something to me.

Having him at that school proves the point that he lied about his age. As you can see the year book is dated 2010... its 2016 now 6 years have passed and you only spend 4 years in highschool... ergo he isn't 19.

That said putting your self in his shoes you'd probably do the same thing if a shady agent came along and gave you this grand plan to be come a multi millionaire in 5 years - that rookie deal will set him and his family up for life. He capitalized on his god given height and an organization was stupid enough not to do the homework on a draft pick despite months and months of research and rumors circulating his age.

The yearbook could have been from a school with more than grades 9-12.

[
Actually what doesn't add up is people claiming a random internet poster would know more about this than both the US government and a bunch of people literally paid to do this.

I'd add that it doesn't say in the yearbook he's in the graduating class. It just has him at the school that year.

.

You do realize people lie about their age and personal information all the time right? If you wanted too, you could make up an identity and the government likely wouldn't catch you. People from countries like South Sudan and Congo can easily make up their identities when going into new countries, even people in US ghettos can do that due to lack of documentation.

It sounds like you're just being a skeptic.

I am, and I do realize people lie. But this is about as sketchy as a source gets.

[phanman]

The yearbook could have been from a school with more than grades 9-12.

Even then on a timeline basis placing him in grade 9 at the time of the photo, when you graduate from high school your the tender age of 18/19 and since he stated his birthday is in February he would be 19.

2010 - 2014 puts him at 19, its 2016 now so he is at least 21... ergo he is lying about his age lol.

[Prez]

brb crying

[bondom34]

The yearbook could have been from a school with more than grades 9-12.

Even then on a timeline basis placing him in grade 9 at the time of the photo, when you graduate from high school your the tender age of 18/19 and since he stated his birthday is in February he would be 19.

2010 - 2014 puts him at 19, its 2016 now so he is at least 21... ergo he is lying about his age lol.

I said it could be from more than those grades. So if he was in grade 7 if it's grades 6-12, he's 13 in 2010, or 19 now.

[Jason_Todd]

We saw that a lot in soccer in Europe. In kids under 14 tournament there´s always somme big black dude with deep voice,big beard in one of the bigger teams that say they are 12 years old,and you can see they are 20 years old at least.

[Fairview4Life]

could it be possible that it's just another person with the same name in those year books?

no...

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/nation/australians-dance-through-hoops-to-top-nba-draft/news-story/14c76f851812a82085483ebb75a7fc8d

In English classes for recently ­arrived refugee children at Perth’s Aranmore Catholic College, Thon Maker was initially unsure of himself.

...

The 216cm Maker is expected to earn more than $1 million next year playing for the Milwaukee Bucks in the NBA after an odyssey stretching between South Sudan, Uganda, Australia and Canada.

There has been much specul­ation about his age: the visa granted to him by Australia when he became a refugee states he was born in 1997.

“I did a little squeal when I found out he was drafted,” Ms Simeon said. “Thon said he was going to do this years ago and now he has … I told my stud­ents today ‘This is about speaking your dreams and making them true’.”

Hang on a second here. I am not going to pay for it, so I'll take your word on that quote, but this article says the VISA granted to him by Australia in 2002(?) states his birth year was 1997. So at that time the Australian government thought he was 5-6 years old. Somehow they got him to grade 9 by 2007 and graduating highschool by 2010? So they took a Sudanese refugee who needed English lessons and who they thought was 5 years old, and stuck him in classes with 10 year olds?

That...does not seem likely to me.

[vxmike]

He's 23 going on 24. That's a big failure on the Bucks part for drafting him so high. Maybe they figured that this draft was weak as hell anyway, so why not take a 7'1 kid with length who could at least block some shots? They are length whores after all with their players (which isn't a bad thing really).

They already have Henson for that...

[phanman]

The yearbook could have been from a school with more than grades 9-12.

Even then on a timeline basis placing him in grade 9 at the time of the photo, when you graduate from high school your the tender age of 18/19 and since he stated his birthday is in February he would be 19.

2010 - 2014 puts him at 19, its 2016 now so he is at least 21... ergo he is lying about his age lol.

I said it could be from more than those grades. So if he was in grade 7 if it's grades 6-12, he's 13 in 2010, or 19 now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aranmore_Catholic_College states the school was 8-12 up until 2011 when they started adding grade 7 students to the curriculum.

Which puts him at least 20 if he was indeed in grade 7 at the time of the photos...-highly unlikely as the photo/video shown he was on the page right after the one that stated 2010 graduates... but I'll bite for the purposes of conversation.

This article: http://thebiglead.com/2016/04/14/thon-maker-nba-draft-eligible/

States that the reason he became draft eligible is because he already graduated last year, thus waiving the 1 year removed from high school rule. Sure you can argue maybe he skipped a grade but he went back to UPGRADE his grades in order to become college eligible.

So mathematically it still puts him at 21.

[kvash37]

This is a bad situation. He can either deny this for years and years, or come clean and lose trust from the organization. I don't blame Thon. If an agent came to me in my teenage years with a plan to make me a millionaire, I would jump at it.

[Bankai]

I believe it, something like this happening so many time on other sport like football etc. African (no racist intended just fact) is well know for something like this.

It's racist because people say this about every African player that looks old for their age even when there's no evidence.

Everyone, and I mean everyone said Mutombo was 5 years older than his true age until he was able to prove them wrong by playing well at age 40+.

http://espn.go.com/nba/news/story?id=2735070

If Mutombo had even had a normal career and retired around 35, everyone now would point to him as an example of an African player lying about his age.

except their is evidence. people don't throw out claims unless their was some basis to spark it. Yi Jianlian was accused of being older than he was. Why dont African Americans don't get accused? Mostly because their records are meticulously kept.

[LLJ]

[bondom34]

Even then on a timeline basis placing him in grade 9 at the time of the photo, when you graduate from high school your the tender age of 18/19 and since he stated his birthday is in February he would be 19.

2010 - 2014 puts him at 19, its 2016 now so he is at least 21... ergo he is lying about his age lol.

I said it could be from more than those grades. So if he was in grade 7 if it's grades 6-12, he's 13 in 2010, or 19 now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aranmore_Catholic_College states the school was 8-12 up until 2011 when they started adding grade 7 students to the curriculum.

Which puts him at least 20 if he was indeed in grade 7 at the time of the photos...-highly unlikely as the photo/video shown he was on the page right after the one that stated 2010 graduates... but I'll bite for the purposes of conversation.

This article: http://thebiglead.com/2016/04/14/thon-maker-nba-draft-eligible/

States that the reason he became draft eligible is because he already graduated last year, thus waiving the 1 year removed from high school rule. Sure you can argue maybe he skipped a grade but he went back to UPGRADE his grades in order to become college eligible.

So mathematically it still puts him at 21.

Those aren't "grades". They're "years" which are different.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Australia

Year 8 is generally 13-14 year olds, which puts him at....19.

[Prez]

I don't understand how his determined age in Australia and on his visa was 6 at 2003 (1997 birth year), but somehow he'd be in the same graduating class as students that are ~23 right now.

[phanman]

I said it could be from more than those grades. So if he was in grade 7 if it's grades 6-12, he's 13 in 2010, or 19 now.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aranmore_Catholic_College states the school was 8-12 up until 2011 when they started adding grade 7 students to the curriculum.

Which puts him at least 20 if he was indeed in grade 7 at the time of the photos...-highly unlikely as the photo/video shown he was on the page right after the one that stated 2010 graduates... but I'll bite for the purposes of conversation.

This article: http://thebiglead.com/2016/04/14/thon-maker-nba-draft-eligible/

States that the reason he became draft eligible is because he already graduated last year, thus waiving the 1 year removed from high school rule. Sure you can argue maybe he skipped a grade but he went back to UPGRADE his grades in order to become college eligible.

So mathematically it still puts him at 21.

Those aren't "grades". They're "years" which are different.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Australia

Year 8 is generally 13-14 year olds, which puts him at....19.

Then the repeat year puts him at 20.

[Hindenburg]

Thon Maker Rule Breaker Age Faker lol

[SKR]

Legend!

[bondom34]

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aranmore_Catholic_College states the school was 8-12 up until 2011 when they started adding grade 7 students to the curriculum.

Which puts him at least 20 if he was indeed in grade 7 at the time of the photos...-highly unlikely as the photo/video shown he was on the page right after the one that stated 2010 graduates... but I'll bite for the purposes of conversation.

This article: http://thebiglead.com/2016/04/14/thon-maker-nba-draft-eligible/

States that the reason he became draft eligible is because he already graduated last year, thus waiving the 1 year removed from high school rule. Sure you can argue maybe he skipped a grade but he went back to UPGRADE his grades in order to become college eligible.

So mathematically it still puts him at 21.

Those aren't "grades". They're "years" which are different.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Education_in_Australia

Year 8 is generally 13-14 year olds, which puts him at....19.

Then the repeat year puts him at 20.

Per the link, year 8 is 13-14 YO, year 12 (final year) is 17-18. That would put him at age 17 in 2014. So if he skipped a grade and went back he's back at 19. And 20 is still not 23.