Maker’s goal with Long Island is simple: Like any other G League player, he’s working towards an NBA call-up, but says he is present and in the moment with his current team. “I’m not one foot in one foot out. I want to focus on where I’m at right then and there. And whether there’s attacking each day, practice, each game, shoot-around, or whatever it is, I’m just locked in, and then the chips will fall wherever they fall. But I’m here 100%.” Teammates in Long Island describe Maker as “very likable,” someone who has been dying to take the team out for dinner since he arrived. “That’s just the kind of guy Thon is,” Brown says. (For the record, the team couldn’t make dinner work while out in Lakeland, but went out to Hibachi during a road trip in Chicago. Eventually, things worked out.)