you guys still think ibaka is way older than his listed age?

[Woodsanity]

He could be a little older but I don't think he is way older lol.

[Lockdown504090]

Dwayne Johnson is 49 and he's still a fitness model.

hes also on every roid in the book.

[gavran]

Yes. He probably also has a bigger penis, than we are led to believe.

[QingJames]

Never believed it. It’s just a racist trope at this point. Not saying players from the Congo (where only about 25% of people have birth certificates) have never lied about their age, but it’s just a stereotype now where EVERY African player coming to the NBA is insinuated to have lied about his age. Kuminga being the most recent victim of this trope.

NBA franchises aren’t stupid. If a guy is noticeably older than he’s claiming, they’ll figure it out because they can and will invest tens, or even hundreds of millions in individual prospects to maximize their return. Maybe there are a few teams not doing their due diligence but I really doubt it.

You never hear this talk about Euros, even though in Eastern Europe and the Balkans they have similar fraud and/or lack of birth certificates. Jokic looks like an old man but nobody questions his age.

[SA37]

I think there were similar claims or suspicions about Dikembe Mutombo.

[Slim Charlez]

I genuinely thought so when he looked cooked on the Magic, but he's rejuvenated his career since and he's either the age he claims or a physical beast at 40. Either way as long as he can contribute who cares.

[Buckeye-NBAFan]

I don't know how old he is, but it's a bit weird to start a thread talking about how Ibaka must be younger because he's injured and can't play.

If anything, being injured and not being able to play would suggest an older age, wouldn't it?

[UcanUwill]

Never believed it. It’s just a racist trope at this point. Not saying players from the Congo (where only about 25% of people have birth certificates) have never lied about their age, but it’s just a stereotype now where EVERY African player coming to the NBA is insinuated to have lied about his age. Kuminga being the most recent victim of this trope.

NBA franchises aren’t stupid. If a guy is noticeably older than he’s claiming, they’ll figure it out because they can and will invest tens, or even hundreds of millions in individual prospects to maximize their return. Maybe there are a few teams not doing their due diligence but I really doubt it.

You never hear this talk about Euros, even though in Eastern Europe and the Balkans they have similar fraud and/or lack of birth certificates. Jokic looks like an old man but nobody questions his age.

Balcans and Eastern Europe does not have lack of birth certificates problem, first I hear of such thing. The doubt comes from teams and national federations who have had history of fraud.

[QingJames]

Never believed it. It’s just a racist trope at this point. Not saying players from the Congo (where only about 25% of people have birth certificates) have never lied about their age, but it’s just a stereotype now where EVERY African player coming to the NBA is insinuated to have lied about his age. Kuminga being the most recent victim of this trope.

NBA franchises aren’t stupid. If a guy is noticeably older than he’s claiming, they’ll figure it out because they can and will invest tens, or even hundreds of millions in individual prospects to maximize their return. Maybe there are a few teams not doing their due diligence but I really doubt it.

You never hear this talk about Euros, even though in Eastern Europe and the Balkans they have similar fraud and/or lack of birth certificates. Jokic looks like an old man but nobody questions his age.

Balcans and Eastern Europe does not have lack of birth certificates problem, first I hear of such thing. The doubt comes from teams and national federations who have had history of fraud.

There is certainly an issue with statelessness in Eastern Europe and Balkans specifically, particularly when it comes to migrants or groups like the Roma. https://index.statelessness.eu/sites/default/files/ENS-Birth_registrations-StatelessnessINDEX_briefing.pdf

I'm also under the impression that the wars during the breakup of Yugoslavia caused issues to the proper registration of new births and tracking people in general. I've read this somewhere but I can't remember where, sorry.

Obviously the issue is not nearly as pronounced as in Africa. I'm just saying you never see white Euros questioned on this issue the same way every black African coming into the league is.

[JN61]

I've never thought that myself, I feel like theres a stereotype that is drawn upon when making those claims.

I always assumed people were just joking, if people were actually serious thinking he was falsifying his age, I dont know what to tell them.

There was always some subtle racist tropes behind those claims of Ibaka being older than he is. It’s like “ha ha those Africans are so dumb and backwards they don’t have paper for birth certificates.”

Another guy who looks old as **** and who’s game fell off suddenly is Steven Adams but no one accuses him of lying about his age. I encourage people to look up Steven Adam’s age, I was genuinely shocked.

Ridiculous takes as is the name... Adams doesn't look as good as he did with OKC (numbers wise) because he doesn't have the best passing point guard to centers in his team anymore...

[dirkdiggler4177]

I had some friends from east Europe (we all lived in Scandinavia) who were the same age as me. Later I found out that some of them were 3-5 years older than me. Their parents and everybody else knew that having fake papers about their age would be good for them.

My dad worked as a project leader, building a hospital in Brazzaville, the city Ibaka comes from, during the '60s/'70s. The first time they tried to build the hospital, the workers from Brazzaville did not work fast enough, so they had to tear down the half-made hospital. I don't know why, but at that time there was something about concreate and timing. You had to build at it at a certain pace. The second time around they used outside construction workers, but in the company contract, it said they had to use X percentage workers from Kongo because of politics. So they just hired anyone that would show up in the morning with a tool like a hammer or a wheelbarrow, pay them and ask them to leave.

He went back there about 5 years ago and found it as crazy as when he left it. Just as an example, they would drive around 80mph in the dirt road and he was scared ****. When he asked the driver to please slow down, the driver just laughed and said if they crashed it was their destiny. This happened with all riders. When he was traveling back home, he had to leave 2 days before he flight left because they worked so slow and he almost missed his plane.

I would be surprised if Ibaka's age is not real, but I doubt it. Unless he goes on a massive decline in a couple of years.

[Peja Stojakovic]

i've never seen any hard evidence about ibaka but the thon maker yearbook photos are pretty damning.

[HabsAndDubs]

No, this is a dumb racist lie. It’s not even about being from a country where not everyone has a birth certificate, it’s about claiming that someone from a specific country is a liar about something as basic as their age. And if that’s the case, people in many countries could do this. Jokic looks old, you don’t think a man can get a forged birth certificate in Serbia? Hell, you don’t think Americans can get a fake birth certificate online? Please. It’s always the African players who are accused of this nonsense. Ibaka plays the type of game and position that often leads players to start declining in their late 20s/early 30s

[Pennebaker]

Read on Twitter

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2719392-serge-ibaka-releases-statement-regarding-age-discrepancy-rumors

hes back to playing 5 on 5 and he will be back from injury and looks like a fitness model. I do think it is worthwhile to look back at these things and discuss it later on. People in nba front offices believed he was more than 5 years older than he is. Do you guys still buy this? I found a lot of people believed the theory 5 years ago when this was being discussed, curious to see opinions now that he is in his early 30s, when he is allegedly supposed to be 37 years old now according to some who still work in the NBA

I don't know but his right arm is longer than his left.

[OkcSinceSGA]

Age 39 season ready to go!! He should be back any day now.

[BoatsNZones]

Read on Twitter

https://bleacherreport.com/articles/2719392-serge-ibaka-releases-statement-regarding-age-discrepancy-rumors

hes back to playing 5 on 5 and he will be back from injury and looks like a fitness model. I do think it is worthwhile to look back at these things and discuss it later on. People in nba front offices believed he was more than 5 years older than he is. Do you guys still buy this? I found a lot of people believed the theory 5 years ago when this was being discussed, curious to see opinions now that he is in his early 30s, when he is allegedly supposed to be 37 years old now according to some who still work in the NBA

I mean it's Serge Ibaka -- I don't think this confirms or denies the rumors (i'd lean on the side of believing him just because, but I did not follow that story closely). The guy is a specimen and only listed at 32. Assuming he's actually 32, I can GUARANTEE he looks the exact same in 7 years. And I would imagine he looks very similar at 44. When you're on top of your **** and a specimen, this is what you look like until you show some age in your mid to late 40's/50's (and most of that will just be white hairs).

[Clemenza]

He's missed so many games over the past year and a half most of us don't even feel he can help the franchise out at all. Hopefully I'm wrong

[BostonCouchGM]

I've never thought that myself, I feel like theres a stereotype that is drawn upon when making those claims.

I always assumed people were just joking, if people were actually serious thinking he was falsifying his age, I dont know what to tell them.

There was always some subtle racist tropes behind those claims of Ibaka being older than he is. It’s like “ha ha those Africans are so dumb and backwards they don’t have paper for birth certificates.”

Another guy who looks old as **** and who’s game fell off suddenly is Steven Adams but no one accuses him of lying about his age. I encourage people to look up Steven Adam’s age, I was genuinely shocked.

so stupid. It's because it's easier to falsify records since record keeping in many third world countries is either bad or non-existent. As to why they'd do this it's obvious, if you're a 22 y/o and more developed physically and skill wise, when compared to 18 y/o you're going to stand out. But this isn't relegated to just NBA players from overseas as kids in the US lie about their age all the time in order to dominate leagues they're too old for. See the Little League World Series scandal as an example.

Nice race baiting though. World class

rAcIsT tRoPeS

[OkcSinceSGA]

I've never thought that myself, I feel like theres a stereotype that is drawn upon when making those claims.

I always assumed people were just joking, if people were actually serious thinking he was falsifying his age, I dont know what to tell them.

There was always some subtle racist tropes behind those claims of Ibaka being older than he is. It’s like “ha ha those Africans are so dumb and backwards they don’t have paper for birth certificates.”

Another guy who looks old as **** and who’s game fell off suddenly is Steven Adams but no one accuses him of lying about his age. I encourage people to look up Steven Adam’s age, I was genuinely shocked.

so stupid. It's because it's easier to falsify records since record keeping in many third world countries is either bad or non-existent. As to why they'd do this it's obvious, if you're a 22 y/o and more developed physically and skill wise, when compared to 18 y/o you're going to stand out. But this isn't relegated to just NBA players from overseas as kids in the US lie about their age all the time in order to dominate leagues they're too old for. See the Little League World Series scandal as an example.

Nice race baiting though. World class

rAcIsT tRoPeS

There have literally been many expose’s highlighting the falsifying of birth records in certain hot spots like Africa, Eastern Europe etc. It has nothing to do with racism for most people. It’s just that it’s literally happened many times. Ibaka’s decline came way earlier than most players, which didn’t help. I mean unless you really believe players as freakishly athletic as him decline rapidly at 24 years old or whatever (injuries or not).

[Salieri]

I've never thought that myself, I feel like theres a stereotype that is drawn upon when making those claims.

I always assumed people were just joking, if people were actually serious thinking he was falsifying his age, I dont know what to tell them.

There was always some subtle racist tropes behind those claims of Ibaka being older than he is. It’s like “ha ha those Africans are so dumb and backwards they don’t have paper for birth certificates.”

I think this statement about "racial stereotyping" reflects more on your own thought process than on others.

For example, there have been a larger number of birth year shenanigans involving African soccer players... on an individual level, club-team level, and even national-team level. Players from other continents do it often too (notably Asia and S America), but there has been more of it seen/caught with African players than others. So nobody thinks that "Africans are so dumb and backwards to not have paper for birth certificates"... we simply accept there is a higher chance of there being age-fraud when it looks like there might be age-fraud, due to empirical evidence, across multiple sports. In fact, you should say they are quite clever when it comes to doing things like this.

Also, hope you know that Africa has countries like Egypt?

Nah, Pointgod is right, it was casual racism. Or more accurately, "well-intentioned" xenophobia mixed with some good old ignorance.

Funny that you bring up empirical evidence. Was there at any point empirical evidence regarding Ibaka? No, it was gossip central. And people really believed and defended the notion that Serge was older than he claims. It wasn't some tongue in cheek, let's have some fun attitude. Many guys were convinced of it. Again, with no empirical evidence whatsoever.

People don't understand that there are many different Africas in Africa, and not every person from that continent was born in the jungle, with no access to running water and nothing resembling some kind of government control. But it's easier to just generalize: some of them did it? Then that means everyone from that sh*thole must do it. Oh look, an african player whose production dropped off for a couple of years. I know why! He lied about his age and he's no longer in his prime, he's african and those cats do it all the time.

That was a real train of thought that many posters showed the last time this came up. And sure, it might not be the typical KKK racism we all know and hate, but when we automatically consider those countries as totally incompetent and barely anything more than a group of villages, I can't help but sense that a superiority complex and a bit of ignorance are involved in the thought process. Not ill-intentioned and not meaning people think less of them (only their country), but it still smells funny.

And let's not go down the "this often happens" argument, please, because then every european is statistically more likely to be a snob, racist piece of crap, and every american is more likely to be a brainwashed authoritarian gun nut. And we don't like those kind of false generalizations, do we? I'm sure african people don't like the "hey, chances are you cheated with your age" one either.