Makur Maker to transfer after being ruled ineligible

UPDATE

After being ruled ineligible at Orange Lutheran, Makur Maker will now transfer to Pacific Academy in Irvine (CA), according to Olgun Uluc of Fox Sports Australia.

It would appear we won’t be seeing Makur Maker on the hardwood this fall, at least in high school hoops.

According to The Orange County Register, Maker has been ruled ineligible for his senior season at Orange Lutheran. That seemingly ends his high school career, but does it mean he could end up on a college campus sooner than expected?

In a recent interview with the Herald-Leader, Maker’s guardian, Ed Smith, said Maker will not be able to get his academics in order to be eligible for the beginning of the 2019-20 college hoops season.

“So there’s no way he’s going to do it,” Smith, said. “We’re deep in the summer. He’s not going to get it done. He’s not reclassing.”

That begs the question of what’s next for Maker, who is ranked No. 2 overall in the 2020 class by 247 Sports. There have been rumblings he could skip college and play overseas, something Smith tried to shoot down.

But now that Maker can’t play high school basketball this fall, maybe he’ll try to play overseas instead and thus end any chance of him ever making it onto a college campus. He could also try to join a prep school.

Or, perhaps Maker could get his classes in order and be eligible to enroll at a college for the second semester this winter, as Jack Pilgrim speculates. That would allow him to spend a semester on a college campus, then declare for the 2020 NBA Draft, ala what Hamidou Diallo did during the 2016-17 season.

I doubt UK would want to go through that again, especially since Maker looks far more likely to actually remain in the draft vs. return to school for the 2020-21 season, but never say never.

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