What Happened To "The Next Kevin Durant"?

There was a point in time when Emoni Bates was supposed to be the next big thing. People called him the best high school prospect in the country regardless of class. He was put on the cover of Sports Illustrated at 15 years old being called the next big thing following in the footsteps of Magic, MJ, and LeBron. He was compared to Kevin Durant as a skinny tall shotmaking wing. Some even thought he would challenge for the first overall pick in 2023 with Victor Wembanyama. At such a young age Emoni was hyped up to be the next big time scoring wing in basketball. But now you barely hear about him. After reclassifying up to go to college early and play at Memphis. Emoni had an underwhelming season with the Tigers and eventually transferred following the season to Eastern Michigan. No longer was he hyped up to be a top 3 pick in the 2023 draft. In fact many don’t even think he’s a first round prospect. However to me, I feel like the narrative has swung too far in the other direction. Sure, maybe Emoni wasn’t this generational prospect that he was hyped up to be in high school, maybe he isn’t the next Kevin Durant. But he also isn’t a bad prospect either, and shouldn’t be viewed as this afterthought that didn’t pan out like we see with a lot of hyped up prospects that don’t work out. I still think there is still potential with Emoni Bates to be a legit NBA player. And while it may not be the star potential many thought it would be in high school. In my eyes, he’s still a legit NBA prospect. #terranova #emonibates #nbadraft Every Scooby Doo Where Are You? Reviewed Video: https://youtu.be/hJar9jp4ygA Classroom of the Elite video: https://youtu.be/HduZ4nRbdTo Subscribe to film essay channel @Terranova : youtube.com/c/TerranovaNoah Follow me on Twitter: https://twitter.com/TerranovaNoah Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/c/TerranovaFilmStudy Follow me on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/noahterranova/ Follow my Twitch here: https://www.twitch.tv/noah_terranova My name is Noah Terranova. On this channel I make videos breaking down the film of basketball players in both long term and single game contexts. I use a combination of advanced stats, basic stats, tracking stats, and what I take away from watching the games to form my evalutions. My goal is to give my own perspective on the game with my own little twist on how I choose to present it. *Copyright Disclaimer Under Section 107 of the Copyright Act 1976, allowance is made for "fair use" for purposes such as criticism, comment, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, and research. Fair use is a use permitted by copyright statute that might otherwise be infringing. Non-profit, educational or personal use tips the balance in favor of fair use. No copyright infringement intended. ALL RIGHTS BELONG TO THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS* NONE OF THE BASKETBALL CLIPS USED ARE OWNED BY ME