Big 12: Rick Barnes Should Use Kevin Durant To Lure Thon Maker To Texas

According to the ESPN 100 rankings for the class of 2016, Rick Barnes’ Texas Longhorns are one of 15 schools being considered by the No. 1 overall recruit, Thon Maker. Along with Texas comes the company of notables such as Kentucky, Duke, Kansas, Arizona and Louisville.

Such profound names should show how much of an influence Texas will need to leave on Maker to land him in Austin and given their similar play styles, it would be wise for Barnes to pull the Kevin Durant trick out of the bag yet again.

Just as with his most recent prized recruit, Myles Turner, Barnes let Durant play a considerable role in the recruitment process, including talking to Turner personally, playing one-on-one games and pickup games with him. Of course, any time one of the best basketball players in the world urges you to play somewhere; you at least consider it a little further.

In the case of Turner, Durant being his favorite player was a huge factor.

That said, with Maker having some similar on-court mannerisms and actually being compared to Durant as seen on Deadspin, trying to convince Maker he could become the next KD at Texas would be vital to trying to land the Virginia native.

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As you can see in the video, he definitely possesses some of the same qualities and the former Texas star. The most obvious is his build at 7’0”, 210 pounds but he also has that smooth touch on his jumper, ability to slash through the lane successfully and create for himself, despite being a towering center.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m not going to go as far as to say Maker is KD 2.0 or the second coming of Durant or anything like that. Just as seen with Turner, basketball is changing and there are now plenty of big men who can carry themselves and score as if they were small forwards.

The difference with Maker is his slender stature and obvious comfort outside of the paint is only going to make the Durant comparisons stronger and more frequent.

But this just goes to show there is a case to be made between the two and if Barnes could convince the reigning NBA MVP to make his convincing pitch as to why Maker is best as a Longhorn, there’s no better time than now. Texas is ranked as a preseason top 10-team and is fresh off of one of the biggest commitments in their history.

The glass is definitely half full in Austin right now and a taste of what coach Barnes is brewing up, especially coming from the mouth of Durant, could be key in Texas staying on the mind of Maker.