Prospect Spotlight: Tai Warner (2020 TBA)
In case you were wondering, it’s true – Tai Warner is back. Most may remember the 6-foot, 170-pound point guard from his stint as a freshman on Jefferson’s state winning title team two years ago. Since then he’s literally gone…
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Continue ReadingIn case you were wondering, it’s true – Tai Warner is back. Most may remember the 6-foot, 170-pound point guard from his stint as a freshman on Jefferson’s state winning title team two years ago. Since then he’s literally gone around the world but Warner is now in Portland again and this spring and summer he’s running with ML20 on the AAU circuit in an effort to return to the college basketball recruiting scene.
The past two weekends, Warner has been playing with ML20 and the team has picked up two tournament titles at the Hoop Madness Spring Showcase and the N.E.T.S. Showcase this past weekend. “It’s great to be back – I a lot of these guys I’ve known since before I moved to Cali,” Warner said. “It’s fun and everyone plays hard and everyone is good to each other – we’re all friends. It’s good playing with people you get along with.
If you have lost track of Warner, here’s where he’s been. After his freshman year, he moved down to the Los Angeles area where he played AAU basketball with Cal Supreme and then part of a season with Orange Lutheran High School. His younger brother got hurt in a car accident and he came back to Portland to help out. From there, he headed overseas initially only for a short while but his stay there ended up going into the 2018-19 school year.
“Last summer I played with the Thailand national team as I was born in Thailand,” Warner said. “While I was over there, a pro team noticed me so they asked me to go play with them. It was a good experience and it got me a lot better. My team had Andrew Wiggins brother so we were really good and we won the championship there.”
Playing with grown men certainly taught Warner a lot and he felt his game really improved. “I had to learn pacing because we had a 24-second shot clock and the rules were a little bit different as we had hand checks and everything,” Warner said. “I just had to learn to be a little more physical.”
While Warner definitely enjoyed the experience, he wasn’t ready to go full on pro. “I didn’t get paid over there – I didn’t take any money so I can still go to college since I didn’t sign a contract,” Warner said. “I’m trying to D-I for college so I have to graduate high school first. So I had to come back and I’ll probably go to Grant or Jeff – it’s between the two.”
Until next fall though, Warner will be lacing it up with ML20 with the hopes that his goals of college basketball can be achieved. “I want to get as many scholarships as I can because at the end of the day that’s the most important,” Warner said. “Honestly I’ll take anything Division I – I hope to get something Pac-12 and stay close to home. My mom has never missed a single game that I’ve played so I want her to be able to see me.”