PORTLAND, Oregon. When guard Nico Mannion was in ninth grade, he was invited to try out for the USA team in the FIBA U16 tournament of Americas.
He was talented but he was cut largely because he was a skinny six-footer who had not yet grown into his body.
Fast forward four years. The exciting 6-3 redhead from Pinnacle High School in Phoenix, Ariz., who signed with Arizona, has become one of the Top 10 recruits for the Class of 2019, has a flashy game that features deep threes, an NBA handle and no look passes. He has become a social media phenom. His Instagram follower count was over 351,000. One YouTube video of the five-star prospect from Phoenix has nearly two million viewers.
And he used the extra motivation of playing against U.S. point guard Cole Anthony of Oak Hill, Va. Academy—the MVP of the McDonald’s All- American game– to score an efficient 28 points on 7 of 10 shooting with three 3s and 11 for 14 from the line. But it wasn’t quite enough. Team USA defeated the International stars, 93-87, before a crowd of 10,112 at Rose Court here, locking up the game when Anthony, who finished with 25 points, closed out the Internationals with 4 straight free throws in the final 20 seconds.
Shades of Zion Williamson from Duke, who built the same kind of social media resume on the way to becoming the first pick overall in the 2019 draft.
Mannion is good enough to play for this U.S. team at the Nike Hoops Summit that took place here last night and was televised by ESPN2 at the Rose Court. But he chose to go in another direction.
Mannion is the son of former NBA player Pace Mannion—his biggest influence. He was born in Italy and whose mom Gaia played professional volleyball in Italy, making him eligible to play for Italy.
He was one of four starters on the Nike Hoop Summit international team who were born outside the states but played high school ball in the United States. The others are 7-0 center Kelli Cockburn of Oak Hill Academy and Jamaica, 6-5 guard Josh Green of IMG Academy and Australia; and 6-9 forward Precious Achiuwa from Monteverde Fla. Academy and Nigeria. This has become a growing trend with nine players altogether on the international team following the model.
Mannion returned to Italy last summer to play for the national team, setting himself up to play for the 2020 Olympic team, but making him ineligible to play for an American team, which like Karl Anthony Towns of the Dominican Republic, who played for Kentucky and was the first pick overall in the 2015 NBA draft.
“I couldn’t have done that for the senior team here,’’ he admitted. “It’s just too loaded with NBA talent.’’
He only lived in Italy for two years before his family returned to the states, but he speaks fluent Italian and visits his birthplace every summer. ”My mother keeps the Italian culture alive in our home,’’ he said.
There were at least 15 future pros in this game. Enjoy it while it lasts. The NBA and NCAA have agreed to get rid of the one and done rule by 2002 and there is a good chance the best senior prospects in the class will no longer play in this game or any other elite All Star games because they will have declared for the draft and be training in for the combine or personal workouts and interviews with NBA teams.
USA Basketball, already thinking ahead, will use juniors if they cannot fill the rosters with internationally competitive players.
