Apparently Emmanuel Mudiay isn’t the only foreign-born American high school player considering taking his talents overseas.
Skal Labissiere, a 6-foot-11 center from Memphis, says he too may play professionally overseas after learning that Mudiay signed a $1.2 million deal to play in China instead of attending SMU.
“Overseas is an option,” Labissiere told Gary Parrish of CBSSports.com at the Las Vegas Classic. “I don’t know yet for sure. We’ll see. But that is a lot of money.”
The news was a bit of a bombshell for the schools recruiting him.
One coach recruiting Labissiere told SNY.tv , “It’s possible” that Labissiere could go overseas.
Another said, “I hope not.”
Last week in Philadelphia, Labissiere, who was born in Haiti and left that country only after his father rescued him from the rubble of the 2010 earthquake there, told SNY.tv he was considering numerous colleges, including Kentucky, Memphis, Ole Miss, Georgetown and North Carolina.
Labissiere, 18, indicated then he may transfer from Evangelical Christian for his senior season, but still considers Memphis home and thus considers the Tigers a real option for college.
Kentucky is also recruiting him hard, and CBSSports reported he lives less than an hour from Ole Miss.
Meantime, Mudiay, who was born in the Congo, headed overseas for what amounts to less than a year at $1.2 million and then will reportedly return to the U.S. next spring to prepare for the NBA Draft, where he could be a top-3 pick in 2015.
Now Labissiere is considering a similar path.
