It is going to be difficult to ever find a more polarizing prospect that Thon Maker had been these past few years prior to being selected by the Milwaukee Bucks in this past year’s NBA Draft. The 7-footer is graced with unbelievable talent and ball skills along with a major motor that has now made him a millionaire. The preps to pros big man does have a younger brother, Matur, that is entering his senior year at Orangeville Prep this winter but it may be an even younger brother, one that is even more talented and possibly an even more potent ballplayer, that burst out onto the scene this past week in Las Vegas.

Seated in the back gym to finish off the final evaluation period, there wasn’t a college coach in the gym. Why not? It was past 5pm, the time slot that college coaches could no longer be in the gym on a Sunday during an evaluation period. If they would have been, what a sight that they would have seen in Makur Maker, a 7-foot freshman big man running with the Impact Basketball 15-under bunch.

Super long but super quick, it isn’t difficult to entertain just how good Maker can be once he gets stronger and even betters a basketball skillset that is no laughing matter. Throughout the course of the game, Maker showed off a much better feel and understanding of the game that even his older, NBA brother doesn’t incorporate within his current repertoire.

More of a face-up type of frontcourt piece, Maker rarely got pushed out of his comfort zone as he uses the jab step appropriately in creating angles and space for himself. He hit on two 17-foot jumpers in consecutive possessions but was more than tough and willing enough to scrap and claw around the basket. He has awesome hands on the glass and polished touch on baby hooks and lay-ins around the goal. The soon to be elite recruit traverses up and down the floor like someone a foot smaller than him would do so as his motor doesn’t stop and neither does his production on the playing floor.

To go straight to the point, Makur Maker is a special prospect. The 2019 class is loaded but there has been a limited amount of viewings of the Sudanese big man that would have had him placed into the elite category within his class nationally. That should all change and while the college recruitment process has yet to begin for the Impact Basketball star, expect for the best of the best to pursue the mobile and light-footed big man hastily.

Where Thon Maker began his story as an NBA ballplayer earlier this month in Las Vegas, it was Makur Maker that followed a similar path in completing the month in pristine fashion as he started his story as a primetime recruit in the desert that we call Sin City.