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Thon Maker: From Refugee to NBA Fame

Basketball star Thon Maker is a part of the growing South Sudanese-Australian basketball community making waves and inspiring others to follow.

As a teenager, the athletic and fiercely driven young man would become the first player in a decade to jump straight from high school to the best basketball competition in the world - the NBA. 

 
 
 

Maker has played with the NBA’s Milwaukee Bucks, Detroit Pistons and Cleveland Cavaliers and hopes that he can be an inspiration to refugees around the world.

"A lot of kids make this journey and they want to find a way to be successful,” says Maker - also a vocal supporter of the Black Lives Matter movement.

 

“When they see somebody do something like this they want to find out what made you think that way. You made certain decisions to get to where you are - so what were they? I'll be able to provide advice to those who want to be in this position.” 

“There are kids in my situation that can see this as an inspiration."

International sports cable channel ESPN says that ‘a South Sudanese revolution is coming’ in basketball.

 
 
 
“There are 63 Australian men on Division One basketball rosters across the United States. Of those sixty-three, nine of them were, like Maker, South Sudanese born. That’s a whopping fourteen percent.”
— ESPN
 
 

Back in Australia, the growing South Sudanese-Australian basketball community is going strong with the support of community leaders such as Mayor Chagai of Western Sydney’s Savannah Pride and Manyang Berberi of Melbourne’s Longhorns. 

While Savannah Pride and the Longhorns were among the first, teams are now starting up across Australia and there are 1000+ players across teams in the South Sudanese Australian National Basketball Association. The teams are using sport to reach into other areas in life, supporting study skills and fostering a sense of friendship, pride and family amongst the young players.

Teams are attracting international talent scouts and have had remarkable success in placing players on US college scholarships - a stepping stone to living the NBA dream just like Maker.