Next came Melbourne United star Chris Goulding. 

Could 13-year-old Laccie Maynard be the next big thing out of Launceston?

The basketball prodigy sure has the credentials at the early stage of his career.

A Basketball Tasmania high-performance scholarship last year – the first to do so at just 12 in the state – was the first hint to his greatness.

That same year the lanky teen got just enough minutes against grown men in the State League to turn heads.

Laccie took it in his stride. 

Big strides on court, that is, in spite of his childlike age.

“You get decent enough amount of court time, but BTAS has been pretty good with everything like supporting my scholarship,” he says.

“It shows that just because you are a kid doesn’t mean you can’t achieve anything.”

But does he harbour great ambitions to one day play NBL, even scale the heights of the NBA? Well, not really.

Forget all that flashy cash.

There are some things that money just can’t buy.

“I really want to represent Australia more,” he says.

“Just show everyone what I can do and make a name for myself and my country.”

From pestering his mum to follow in his sister’s footsteps that he jokingly says is “just too easy now” when the siblings play a pick-up game, the Trevallyn talent is the best product for years.

Just ask his State League but also personal one-on-one coach Darren Best.

The Basketball Tasmania development officer for the North has not seen a player like him ever in the state.

“He definitely has a great amount of skill, but his biggest upside right now is how he is athletically,” Best says.

“He is very long, quite bouncy and quite fast. The way the game has gone now, if you’re not long, tall and fast, it’s much much harder, not impossible, to make it.

“I’d say his talent hasn’t been seen [in Launceston] for a long time here. Couple that with some of his decision-making, he is that good.”

Much of his game time for State League team BTAS was off the bench. But Best had no issues exposing Laccie.

“As time goes on, he’ll obviously play more next season,” Best says.

“Because he’s already in high-performance, he gets to go in. But we only put him in when we believe it was safe.

“When you have someone young but very gifted, you need to challenge them as much as you can.”

Best is quick to first say potential can only go so far.

The accomplished coach has seen it all before.

Crash and fall. But Laccie has mastered the pick-and-roll like no other his age.

That’s something, just as drills become a formality.

“It’s hard to tell where he will end up because he’s only 13, but we feel he has a very high ceiling,” Best says.

“It’s not where they are now, but more about where they’ll potentially could be.

“At the end of the day, he’s 13 and still can be inconsistent as most kids at his age.

“So we’ll give him the tools and in the end it’s really up to him how far he goes.”