Farthest from "the next LeBron": The entanglement and crash of Amoni Bates' beliefs

He became an unprecedented high school sensation and was supposed to become an upgraded version of Kevin Durant - but this week he was arrested with weapons and took another step too big on the way down.

Does he still have a chance of resurrection?

Voila system!

sport

09/21/2022

Wednesday, September 21, 2022, 11:00 p.m

• Share on Facebook

• Share on WhatsApp

• Share on Twitter

• Share by email

• Share in general

• Comments

  Comments

Tiktuknu: Summary of the day in sports, 21.9 (Sport1)

There were quite a few basketball players who were labeled as future NBA stars until they collapsed under the expectations.

Greg Oden was overwhelmed by injuries, Anthony Bennett was never able to make a real mark on the industry, Sebastian Telpierre got involved in criminal incidents, and the list goes on.

Soon, it seems, another lost super talent will join the unflattering list: Amoni Bates.

The 18-year-old Bates has been mentioned for years as the next big thing in the NBA.

He received a cover story in "Sports Illustrated" at a younger age than LeBron James, was compared to Kevin Durant and was destined to be the obvious 1st pick in the first draft he could register for.

But this week he was arrested in Michigan for illegal possession of a firearm, suspended from his college until further notice, and took another step down the road to what looks like a sad crash.

This is how it looked just two years ago

And this is how it looks this week

Bates will remain in custody for the next few days and will be able to return to the floor, if at all, only after the legal process is over.

Now the United States is wondering what went wrong along the way, and what caused the "greatest high school player since LeBron James" to reach such a slippery slope.

"He was supposed to be the next LeBron, the next Durant, the next big thing in the NBA," Jonathan Givani recalled on ESPN yesterday (Tuesday).

"But it is not going according to expectations for now. Two or three years ago he was a candidate to take over the NBA, and now it is not at all clear if he will ever play in the uniform of Eastern Michigan, his new college."

Bates made a series of controversial decisions on the way down.

When he reached the twelfth grade, he left the high school where he starred (and even won the high school player of the year award) and moved to play in the team founded by his father, a former player and coach. This was the first step that stopped his development. "The whole team was actually built for him.

He had no competition or challenge there.

Even if they brought LeBron James to play there, Bates would still take 80 percent of the shots," a concerned scout told The Athletic.

"His father didn't really give him the chance to flourish. With him, Amoni was constantly left behind," says Givoni.

Bates ended up at Memphis College, a top college in the United States, with one of the most respected coaches in college - Penny Hardaway.

Hardaway wanted to put the keys in Bates' hands and even planned to use him as a point guard, but Bates, who was the youngest freshman in college basketball, just wasn't ready for it.

After playing only 18 games in the Memphis uniform and putting up modest averages of 9.7 points and 3.3 rebounds, he decided to transfer to Eastern Michigan, a college close to his childhood home.

There he hoped to get real credit, but in practice he put himself in a toxic environment.

"He had a difficult year, but there was an expectation that now he will also see in colleges what made him the number 1 prospect in the country. Unfortunately for him, it seems that he is just connected to the wrong people," says Givani.

Was he crowned too early?

Amoni Bates (Photo: GettyImages, Abbie Parr)

Bates claims in his defense that the vehicle in which he was caught did not belong to him and that he did not know that there were weapons hidden inside, but the prosecution is not in a hurry to believe his version.

Now the question is whether he will continue to play at all, and if so, is there a small chance that he will still realize his enormous potential.

Currently, draft projections no longer have Bates as a first-round pick, largely because of the problematic circumstances.

"Will he continue to play? I'm sure he will. He still has a chance to be a first-round pick, maybe even a lottery pick," Givoni says.

"There is a lot of skepticism around him in the NBA, but his story is far from over. In my opinion, he can definitely come out of it and realize this potential."

• sport

• NBA

Tags

• NBA