Aquille Carr is too young to enter the NBA Draft. He still might turn pro anyway. Not exactly what you’d expect from a 5-foot-6 high school sophomore.
But Carr, who plays at Patterson High School in Baltimore, is not an ordinary sophomore. And his pro future probably isn’t in the NBA, either. Instead, it’s an Italian team that is trying to lure him with a pro contract.
According to Yahoo! Sports, Lottomatica Virtus Roma of the Italian league — the same team that Milwaukee Bucks guard Brandon Jennings played with for one season — offered him a $750,000 contract that could reach $1 million.
Jennings was the first player to chose to play for a Eurpoean team rather than playing in college since the NBA’s age restriction was implemented.
Carr averaged 25.5 points, 8.0 assists and 5.3 steals as a freshman. He’s already scored 58 points in a game, surpassed more than 1,000 for his career, can jump 48 inches and his ballhandling skills defy description. He’s also already 17.
But despite his talent, Carr is not yet considered a high-level college prospect.
Virtus Roma became interested in Carr when he played in Italy with the U.S. team that won a gold medal at the Junior International tournament in Milan last month. He scored 40 in one game (and was reportedly carried off the court by the fans) and told Scouts?focus.com that in his “second, third, fourth and fifth game I was averaging like 41 points.”
His high school coach, Harry Martin told Prep Rally that he expects Carr to finish high school at Patterson.
But …
“Yes, I would be interested in [playing abroad] one day,” Carr told Scoutsfocus.com. “I just want to keep [the Roma offer] in mind. I don’t want to make my decision so fast. But perhaps we might do that.”
