7-year-old. Yes, seven. Martray Bagley has apparently received an offer from USC and head basketball coach Andy Enfield, according to AZ Finest Mixtape on Twitter. Marvin Bagley Jr, the father of Martray, later confirmed the news on his Instagram.
There's a trend
The trend of offering athletic scholarships to kids before they even enter high school has become noticeable in both basketball and football. Just over a month ago, SB Nation reported that Nevada's football program offered a nine-year-old a scholarship. Within the same piece, SB Nation noted that many middle school students, and even younger students, have received scholarships to Division I programs.
Florida Atlantic has offered a seventh and sixth grader football scholarships, Hawaii offered a fifth grader, Illinois offered a 10-year-old and Louisville, as well, offered a 9-year-old. UCLA commit and rising junior LaMelo Ball, too, was offered a committed to the Bruins as a middle school student. He committed to UCLA as a 13-year-old.
While offering scholarships to preadolescents are often criticized by the consensus, the trend is seemingly here to stay - unless the NCAA places a rule prohibiting programs from offering underclassmen as it did to lacrosse recruits back in April.
Who is Martray Bagley?
Martray Bagley is the younger brother of both Marvin Bagley III, Who Is the top rising senior in the nation, as well as Marcus Bagley, a class of 2020 recruit who holds Offers from Arizona, Arizona State, and UCLA.
Marvin cut his list to six schools in the spring: Arizona, Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UCLA, and USC. Duke and USC are currently the frontrunners to land Marvin, according to the 247Sports Crystal Ball. In the past few weeks, rumors have surfaced saying Marvin may reclassify into the 2017 class, which would allow him to be eligible to play collegiate basketball next season.
While I'm nearly sure that Martray has full potential in basketball, considering the younger brother of two incredibly talented basketball recruits, the offer was admittedly surprising and premature nonetheless. At only age eight, many things can happen to Martray before he steps on a college campus. What if suffers multiple injuries in high school that prevents him from reaching his potential?
What if he simply doesn't pan out into what Andy Enfield thinks he can?
Unless he receives another offer at this age, we may not hear of Martray Bagley's name for quite some time. It is, however, a name to remember in ten years, when he'll still only be a senior in high school. His brother Marvin, on the other hand, may end up being the No. 1 pick in the 2019 NBA Draft, or even the 2018 NBA Draft, regardless of where he decides to go to school.
