Tony Wroten, Who Some Say Will Be Seattle's Best Basketball Player Ever, Makes His Metro League Debut Tonight

Franklin vs. Garfield is one of the Seattle sports events that you just shouldn't miss. Here's what we wrote about it for The Stranger in September:

True local hoops fans don't miss this game between two perennial inner-city basketball powerhouses, even at the cost of connubial tranquility. The 2005 game at Garfield fell on Valentine's Day, but happily married Husky basketball coach Lorenzo Romar was there anyway. A win in this game means neighborhood bragging rights for the rest of your life.

Tonight's game will be more special than usual, as it's the Metro League debut of Garfield's Tony Wroten, Jr., who national rankings service HoopScoopOnline says is the best 9th-grade basketball player in the country. (Yes, there are people who track 9th-grade basketball. There are people who track 5th-grade basketball.)

This summer, Wroten (who's a 6-3 point guard) played for Adidas' Team Phenom, a team of the 12 best 8th-graders in the country. Adidas pays for them to play in Vegas, in the Bronx and in Italy. Nice gig.

Wroten's dad Tony played tight end at UW (at left, with the 1983 Huskies) and he's the nephew of former Harlem Globetrotter and Garfield star Joyce Walker, widely regarded as the best player, of either gender, in Washington state history.

Wroten's first prep game was Friday against Lakes, he had a pedestrian 11 points, but we assume he'll turn it up for this rivalry game.

Franklin is ranked #2 in the state, and it's always worth checking them out because of junior Peyton Siva. Siva's ranked the 5th-best point guard in the country, and just got a scholarship offer from Rick Pitino and Louisville, Scout.com reports (mems. only)

Here's a profile of Wroten and Siva from the Seattle P-I.

Here's video of Wroten as a 5th-grader and as an 8th-grader.

The game is at 7:30, it's at Franklin.