Six days ago, NBA prospect Emoni Bates, a freshman at Memphis, announced he would enter the transfer portal.
Bates, still age 18, will be eligible for the 2023 NBA Draft. He burst onto the scene as a high school freshman and became the nation’s top-ranked high school player, but his college freshman season was marked by injury and ineffectiveness. Now he’ll be looking for a fresh start at another college, in the G League or elsewhere.
Given this news, I asked several sources with knowledge of Bates and his development to provide their evaluations and advice — specifically, what he should work on and where he should play next.
Who is Emoni Bates?
October 29, 2019 is the day Bates’ life changed forever. That’s when Sports Illustrated featured him in a story online — and on the cover of the magazine’s issue dated November 4, 2019. SI labeled the 15-year-old basketball prodigy “the future of the NBA” and “likely to be a straight-to-the-NBA No. 1 pick.”
