Makur Maker (born 4 November 2000) is a South Sudanese-Australian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player for the

Capital City Go-Go The Capital City Go-Go is an American professional basketball team in the NBA G League based in Washington, D.C., and are affiliated with the Washington Wizards. The Go-Go play their home games at the St. Elizabeths East Entertainment and Sports ...

of the

NBA G League The NBA G League, or simply the G League, is the National Basketball Association's (NBA) official minor league basketball organization. The league was known as the National Basketball Development League (NBDL) from 2001 to 2005, and the NBA De ...

. A consensus five-star recruit, he committed to play

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for

Howard University Howard University (Howard) is a Private university, private, University charter#Federal, federally chartered historically black research university in Washington, D.C. It is Carnegie Classification of Institutions of Higher Education, classifie ...

, becoming the highest-ranked player in the modern recruiting era to commit to a

historically black college or university Historically black colleges and universities (HBCUs) are institutions of higher education in the United States that were established before the Civil Rights Act of 1964 with the intention of primarily serving the African-American community. Mo ...

(HBCU). Born in

Nairobi Nairobi ( ) is the capital and largest city of Kenya. The name is derived from the Maasai phrase ''Enkare Nairobi'', which translates to "place of cool waters", a reference to the Nairobi River which flows through the city. The city prope ...

, Maker grew up in

Perth Perth is the list of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the Australian states and territories of Australia, state of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth most populous city in Aust ...

, Western Australia, before playing high school basketball in North America. He is the cousin of basketball players Thon and

Matur Maker Matur Marial Maker (born 1 January 1998) is a South Sudanese-born Australian basketball player who last played for the Canterbury Rams of the New Zealand National Basketball League (NZNBL). He moved to Australia in his childhood and played for ...

Early life

Maker was born in

, Kenya, to

South Sudanese South Sudan is home to around 60 indigenous ethnic groups and 80 linguistic partitions among a population of around million. Historically, most ethnic groups were lacking in formal Western political institutions, with land held by the communit ...

parents and immigrated to

, Western Australia, when he was one year old. Before focusing on basketball, he mainly took interest in football as a striker and often played

beach soccer Beach soccer, also known as beach football, sand football or beasal, is a variant of association football played on a beach or some form of sand Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various comp ...

with his friends. Maker played for Quinns Football club alongside his older brothers. Maker attended St. Andrews Catholic Primary School and joined Irene McCormack Catholic College for high school. He was drawn to basketball in part because of his exceptional height.

High school career

In 2015, Maker moved to the United States and enrolled for his freshman year at Chaminade College Preparatory School in

West Hills, Los Angeles West Hills is a suburban / residential community in the western San Fernando Valley region of the City of Los Angeles, California. The percentage of residents aged 35 and older is among the highest in Los Angeles County. The neighborhood was for ...

. As a result, he was forced to live away from his family for many years. As a freshman, Maker averaged 9.5 points, 8.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game. In 2016, he transferred to The Tech Academy, a prep school in

Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario Sault Ste. Marie ( ) is a city in Ontario, Canada. It is at the St. Mary's River on the Canada–US border. It is the third largest city in Northern Ontario, after Sudbury and Thunder Bay. The Ojibwe, the indigenous Anishinaabe inhabitants of ...

. He was drawn to the program by his cousins, basketball players Thon and

. His cousins also brought him under the guidance of Ed Smith, a coach who had helped direct them through their own basketball careers. Maker joined the basketball team with Matur and played in the National Preparatory Association and The Grind Session. In his next year, The Tech Academy closed and he was

homeschooled Homeschooling or home schooling, also known as home education or elective home education (EHE), is the education of school-aged children at home or a variety of places other than a school. Usually conducted by a parent, tutor, or an onlin ...

. Maker suffered a foot injury that sidelined him for the 2017–18 season. In the summer of 2018, he transferred to Orange Lutheran High School in

Orange, California Orange is a city located in North Orange County, California. It is approximately north of the county seat, Santa Ana. Orange is unusual in this region because many of the homes in its Old Town District were built before 1920. While many othe ...

. As a junior, he earned All- Trinity League first team and '' Orange County Register'' All-County second team honors. Maker faced eligibility questions entering his senior season, because he had already exhausted his eight semesters of eligibility. Instead of seeking a waiver from the

California Interscholastic Federation The California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) is the governing body for high school sports in the U.S. state of California. CIF membership includes both public and private high schools. Unlike most other state organizations, it does not have ...

to continue playing for Orange Lutheran, he transferred to Pacific Academy, a prep school in

Irvine, California Irvine () is a master-planned city in South Orange County, California, United States, in the Los Angeles metropolitan area. The Irvine Company started developing the area in the 1960s and the city was formally incorporated on December 28, 197 ...

, and continued his career with the affiliated program, Center of International Basketball Academy. On 17 October 2019, it was announced that he had submitted paperwork to explore his eligibility for the

2020 NBA draft The 2020 NBA draft was held on November 18, 2020. The draft was originally scheduled to be held at Barclays Center in Brooklyn on June 25, but due to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, it was instead conducted at ESPN's facilities in Bristol, Connecti ...

. On 25 April 2020, he declared for the 2020 NBA draft. Despite finishing two credits short of high school graduation, Maker was granted eligibility by the NBA. However, on 3 August he withdrew from the draft to play college basketball.

Recruiting

Maker was a consensus five-star recruit and one of the top

centers Center or centre may refer to: Mathematics *Center (geometry), the middle of an object * Center (algebra), used in various contexts ** Center (group theory) ** Center (ring theory) * Graph center, the set of all vertices of minimum eccentricity ...

in the 2020 recruiting class, according to major recruiting services. On 3 July 2020, he committed to play

for

Howard Howard is an English-language given name originating from Old French Huard (or Houard) from a Germanic source similar to Old High German ''*Hugihard'' "heart-brave", or ''*Hoh-ward'', literally "high defender; chief guardian". It is also prob ...

over offers from

UCLA The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a Normal school, teachers colle ...

Kentucky Kentucky ( , ), officially the Commonwealth of Kentucky, is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States and one of the states of the Upper South. It borders Illinois, Indiana, and Ohio to the north; West Virginia and Virgini ...

and Memphis. He became the highest-ranked recruit to commit to a

(HBCU) in the modern recruiting era. Maker made the decision in part to encourage future prospects to play for HBCU programs.

College career

After playing in Howard's first two games, Maker was ruled out indefinitely on 28 November 2020, due to a groin injury suffered in preseason practice.

Professional career

Sydney Kings (2021–2022)

On 21 August 2021, Maker signed with the

Sydney Kings The Sydney Kings are an Australian men's professional basketball team competing in the National Basketball League (NBL). The team is based in Sydney, New South Wales. The Kings were formed from a merger between the West Sydney Westars and the ...

of the National Basketball League (NBL) on a Next Stars contract. After going undrafted in the

2022 NBA draft The 2022 NBA draft (branded as the 2022 NBA Draft presented by State Farm for sponsorship reasons), the 76th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on June 23, 2022, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. T ...

, Maker joined the

Chicago Bulls The Chicago Bulls are an American professional basketball team based in Chicago. The Bulls compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded on Januar ...

for the

2022 NBA Summer League The 2022 NBA Summer League, also branded as the NBA 2K23 Summer League 2022, was an off-season competition held by the National Basketball Association (NBA) primarily at the Thomas and Mack Center and Cox Pavilion in Las Vegas, Nevada on the camp ...

Capital City Go-Go (2022–present)

On August 10, 2022, Maker signed an Exhibit 10 contract with the

Washington Wizards The Washington Wizards are an American professional basketball team based in Washington, D.C. The Wizards compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Southeast Division. The team plays ...

. He was then later waived on October 12, 2022. On November 4, 2022, Maker was named to the opening night roster for the

National team career

In February 2019, Maker stated that he would play for Australia internationally. He made himself available to represent Australia at the

2019 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup The 2019 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup (Greek: Παγκόσμιο Κύπελλο Μπάσκετ FIBA Under-19 2019) was the 14th edition of the FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup, the biennial international men's youth basketball championsh ...

but was not selected in the final squad.

Career statistics

College

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Personal life

Maker is a cousin of basketball players

Thon Maker Thon Marial Maker (born 25 February 1997) is a South Sudanese-Australian professional basketball player for the Fujian Sturgeons of the Chinese Basketball Association (CBA). He attended high school at Orangeville District Secondary School and p ...

and

. Makur is also a cousin of

Aliir Aliir Aliir Mayom Aliir (born 5 September 1994) is a professional Australian rules footballer playing for the Port Adelaide Football Club in the Australian Football League (AFL). He formerly played for the Sydney Swans. Early life and career Born ...

who plays for

Port Adelaide Port Adelaide is a port-side region of Adelaide, approximately northwest of the Adelaide CBD. It is also the namesake of the City of Port Adelaide Enfield council, a suburb, a federal and state electoral division and is the main port for the ...

in the Australian Football League.Horne, Ben (28 June 2016). "Aliir Aliir and Thon Maker revealed to be cousins as both chase their sporting dreams". ''The Daily Telegraph''. Retrieved 28 September 2016. He has six brothers and one sister. Maker descends from the

Dinka people The Dinka people ( din, Jiɛ̈ɛ̈ŋ) are a Nilotes, Nilotic ethnic group native to South Sudan with a sizable diaspora population abroad. The Dinka mostly live along the Nile, from Jonglei to Renk, South Sudan, Renk, in the region of Bahr el Gh ...

South Sudan South Sudan (; din, Paguot Thudän), officially the Republic of South Sudan ( din, Paankɔc Cuëny Thudän), is a landlocked country in East Africa. It is bordered by Ethiopia, Sudan, Central African Republic, Democratic Republic of the ...

. His guardian is Liberian-born basketball coach Ed Smith, who is the same guardian as his cousins Thon and Matur.

References

External links

NBL profileHoward Bison bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Maker, Makur 2000 births Living people Australian expatriate basketball people in the United States Australian men's basketball players Basketball people from Nairobi Basketball players from Perth, Western Australia Centers (basketball) Dinka people Howard Bison men's basketball players South Sudanese emigrants to Australia South Sudanese men's basketball players Sydney Kings players