Is star recruit Makur Maker an option for Kentucky basketball? His guardian talks about what’s next.
A familiar name has emerged as a new possibility to fill Kentucky’s need for at least one more player in the frontcourt for next season.
Makur Maker — a 6-foot-11 center in the class of 2020 — has long been expected to jump straight from high school basketball to the professional ranks. That could still happen. Maker declared for the NBA Draft on Saturday, and the league has agreed to make him eligible to be drafted even though he was two credits short of graduating with his original high school class last year.
Or, he could go a different route.
Maker told 247Sports over the weekend that — although he is eligible for this year’s NBA Draft — he is still considering playing college basketball next season, and he listed Kentucky as one of his top options. UK has only two true frontcourt players on the projected roster for next season — 6-9 power forward recruits Isaiah Jackson and Lance Ware — and few attractive options to add more bulk to the lineup.
247Sports ranks Maker — an active rebounder and shot blocker with ample size and versatile skills — as the No. 5 overall prospect in the 2020 class. There are no other uncommitted post players in the top 50 of those rankings. The Cats’ most realistic option, at the moment, appears to be high-upside center Frank Anselem, who is ranked No. 119 overall by 247Sports.
Even if UK could add Anselem — a player expected to contribute next season, but one who still needs more time to blossom into a star — the program could certainly use another proven talent.
The Herald-Leader confirmed Saturday that Kentucky is indeed interested in Maker, and the star player’s guardian, Ed Smith, spoke at length Sunday night about the process they’ll go through to decide whether to keep Maker’s name in the NBA Draft or play college basketball next season.
Smith said that he and UK’s coaching staff stayed in contact periodically throughout this past season — even when it looked like Maker was almost certain to go pro out of high school — and the Wildcats are one of four teams at the top of the list if they choose the college route.
UCLA, Auburn and Oregon are the other programs under consideration.
“Those are the guys that we know pretty well that we would consider,” Smith told the Herald-Leader.
Maker had been based in southern California — making UCLA more of a local option — and the family has a longtime relationship with Oregon assistant coach Mike Mennenga. Smith said Auburn assistant Wes Flanigan has done a great job of staying active in Maker’s recruitment.
They’re also well acquainted with Kentucky, which once recruited Maker’s cousin — former five-star prospect Thon Maker — before he went straight to the NBA Draft out of high school.
John Calipari and Kenny Payne flew to California last spring to meet with Smith and Maker, and the UK coaches watched him at several recruiting showcases last year.
It became clear Maker and his camp were intent on the pros over college. While that’s still the case, the uncertainty over the NBA Draft calendar has affected his plans.
Maker to the NBA?
Smith acknowledged Sunday night that the ideal situation would be for Maker to stay in this year’s NBA Draft with a promise from one (or more) of the league’s teams to be selected.
ESPN currently ranks Maker as the No. 75 overall prospect for the 2020 draft, which will include only 60 picks, and Smith said it has been difficult to get a gauge on exactly how teams see Maker’s stock right now.
He said they were confident that after playing in the high-profile Nike Hoop Summit and Iverson Classic — two postseason all-star games featuring some of the nation’s top young players — and then going through the NBA Combine and subsequent team workouts, Maker would have proven himself as worthy of a first-round pick.
The coronavirus pandemic led to the cancellation of the major all-star recruiting events and has completely upended the NBA’s pre-draft calendar.
“So that opportunity is not there right now with this COVID situation,” Smith said. “So, you don’t want to take a lottery talent and have him in a situation where he has to go through a process that he doesn’t have control over, and then he’s a second-round pick or a G League player.
“If it doesn’t shake out to where you have a promise, then go to the stage of college, and let them see you perform. So we’ve kind of re-evaluated and spoken a little bit to the programs that we were interested in playing at, reached out to them and said, ‘Hey, look, we don’t want to get you worked up and put all of your resources into recruiting (Makur). But just understand that — if it doesn’t work out how we want — we’ll be reaching out to you.’”
Right now, the NBA Draft is set for June 25, and the withdrawal date for players to retain their college eligibility is June 3, which would have been 10 days after the NBA Combine. It remains unclear how the coronavirus pandemic will affect those dates. It’s possible that the draft could be moved to much later in the year, which might lead to the withdrawal date being moved, as well. It’s not clear when or if the league will hold its combine showcase for prospective draft picks, or if the NBA will permit teams to host their own workouts involving possible draft picks.
With Maker wanting to go straight to the pros — but still clearly needing to prove himself — that leaves a lot of uncertainty. And it likely means any college that wants to recruit him will be waiting a while for an answer.
“It all depends on the NBA, because you have to go through the process,” Smith said. “Nobody knows when the withdrawal date is going to be. The NBA has to come up with a calendar first …
“And hopefully the schools that you’re looking at still have availability. You have to make your list and then check back with them, because they still have to move ahead and think about their programs. And that’s understood.”
Smith acknowledged that — if Maker receives a first-round guarantee, or a guarantee of being selected in the second round and put in a position to succeed — he’d likely take it.
“I’d think, yeah, if you get a first-round promise you would stay in,” he said. “Because that means those people believe in you. They have a plan for you. ‘This is what we’re going to do — we believe in you.’ And they would lay it out and let you know what they’re about.”
That means recruiting Maker could be quite the risk. It’s likely a risk worth making.
Maker to college?
Maker is an unorthodox player — like his cousin, Thon — but there’s no questioning his talent or his drive to compete. There’s also no questioning that Kentucky needs someone exactly like him for next season.
The Cats missed out on 7-foot-3 center Matt Haarms, there’s no on else in the transfer portal — as of Sunday night — that can adequately fill their needs for next season, and the 2020 recruiting class is lacking a can’t-miss prospect in the post. Anselem could be a solid addition who plays some as a freshman, but he’ll likely need more time to step into the role as a starting ‘5’ on a team with national title aspirations. There are also reclassification possibilities in the 2021 class, but UK doesn’t seem particularly well-positioned for any of them.
Smith said Sunday night — and told the Herald-Leader last summer — that there’s a misconception that Maker, who has unique skills for a near-7-footer, wants to play primarily on the perimeter.
“He’s not a point guard,” Smith said in June. “People are trying to say he’s a 7-foot point guard. We look at guys like Nikola Jokic, these type of big forwards who can do other things — like facilitate and stretch the floor — but are willing to play around the rim. He’s physical inside. He posts up and presents a big target. But, usually, high school guards are still getting a feel for getting the ball in there. So it’s almost discouraging when you’re telling a kid to keep posting up, and he gets down to the block and then the ball doesn’t get there.
“Then he’ll say, ‘Well, I might as well use my other skills.’ And that’s when the other skills start to happen.”
At a place like Kentucky, he could play a more traditional — though still unique — big man’s role.
“The whole theory is to be able to play positionless,” Smith said, repeating one of Calipari’s most-used buzzwords. “If you know you have a mismatch, you can play him from the post to the elbow to the perimeter. It’s not like, ‘I have to do this.’ It’s, ‘I just want to go and find a coach that sees my talent and says, ‘I see a mismatch here. We’re going to exploit this.’’’
“On the defensive end, he has a job to do — rebound, protect the rim and play active defense. Hold it down.”
Smith said Maker is at 6-11 and 239 pounds. He continues to gain strength — he’s currently bench pressing 245 pounds with about six to eight reps, according to Smith — and would be 2 inches taller, noticeably bulkier, and likely stronger than any other frontcourt player on Kentucky’s projected roster for next season. And, he can play.
“You know what type of talent this kid has,” Smith said.
A late decision
Maker’s situation means that Kentucky can’t simply wait on him to solve its frontcourt need for next season. If the Cats don’t add anyone while hoping for Maker’s commitment a few months from now, the likelihood of getting an impact player so late in the recruiting cycle if Maker does indeed stay in the draft — or picks a different college — would decrease dramatically.
So, UK has to keep looking at other options. And if Calipari does add a center, that won’t necessarily take the Cats out of the running if Maker ultimately decides to take the college route.
Smith pointed out that Calipari has had plenty of success with multiple big men before, specifically mentioning the 38-1 Kentucky team that had Karl-Anthony Towns, Willie Cauley-Stein and Dakari Johnson, the NBA’s No. 1, No. 6, and No. 48 picks, respectively.
“It’s competition. You want to be in an environment where you’re going to compete,” Smith said. “If you’re really confident as a competitor, that’s not going to make you shy away from a situation. … He’s had multiple bigs before, right. The cream will rise. He had Cauley-Stein and KAT and Dakari Johnson on the same team. Sometimes that fight brings out the best.”
Smith made it clear that Maker would not be joining the G League’s new professional path program, which has already landed commitments from five-star recruits Jalen Green and Isaiah Todd, who will both earn six-figure salaries while training up to the 2021 NBA Draft.
“It’s a great program, don’t get me wrong,” Smith said. “But if he’s not going to be in the NBA, he’s going to go to school.”
There have been continued questions surrounding Maker’s eligibility to play NCAA basketball. The Herald-Leader was told over the weekend that it would be difficult for Maker, who has played for high school teams in Canada, California and Arizona, to achieve the needed academic eligibility for next season, even with the NCAA’s relaxed requirements for core courses and test scores as a result of the coronavirus pandemic.
Smith said Sunday that Maker would have no problems gaining eligibility for next season, if he chooses college.
“We’re very, very comfortable. That part is the easy part,” he said. “He has all of his core (courses). So that will be fine.”
For the foreseeable future, Maker’s recruitment will remain in flux. It will depend on what the NBA does with its pre-draft calendar, what kind of opportunities Maker can get to impress league decision-makers, and whether or not he makes the most of those chances.
And any college that wants him on campus for next season will just have to wait.
“He’s going through the process,” Smith said. “He’s going to exhaust the process.”
This story was originally published April 26, 2020 at 10:06 PM.
