2024-2025 Atlanta Hawks Season Grades: Mouhamed Gueye

Age: 22 years old

2024-2025 Role: G-League (Beginning of the year) then starting four

Stats:  6.0 points per game, 4.2 rebounds, 0.8 assists, 1.0 blocks, 0.8 steals on 42/26/76 shooting splits (16.2 minutes per game in 33 games played this season)

Back in 2025-26: Yes

Mouhamed Gueye was one of the Hawks most interesting players this past season. While Gueye was forced into action towards the end of his rookie season in 2023-2024 due to injuries for Atlanta, he was always seen as a developmental prospect who needed time in College Park before he became an actual contributor for Atlanta. This season. everything was going according to plan with Gueye in College Park, but when the injury bug came for Atlanta again, Gueye was forced into a starting role for the Hawks.

When Jalen Johnson went down with a season ending shoulder injury, the Hawks, who knew their forward depth could not with stand an injury to Johnson, pushed Gueye into the starting lineup to try and see what they had with the raw, athletic forward from Senegal. The results were mixed at times, but there is a chance the Hawks have their backup power forward next season.

Let's start with the positives, which are almost exclusively on defense. Per Cleaning the Glass, the Hawks were +9.4 points better per 100 possessions with Gueye on the floor in 515 total minutes played. The Hawks defense ranked in the 98th percentile in points allowed per 100 possessions (-9.6), in the 81st percentile in effective field goal percentage allowed, 74th percentile in TOV%, 98th percentile in offensive rebounding percentage allowed%, and 80th percentile in free throw percentage allowed. 515 minutes is not a large sample, but those are really good numbers on defense and Atlanta was better on that end when he played as opposed to not.

Gueye also had a 3.3 BLK%, which ranks in the 87th percentile in the NBA, and a 2.3 STL%, which ranked in the 96th percentile. Gueye was effective at blocking shots and creating turnovers when the opponent had the ball, showcasing his defensive ability. Due to Atlanta's lack of size, Gueye had to take on some tough matchups. In the play-in tournament game vs the Orlando Magic, it was up to Gueye to guard Paolo Banchero and he did as good of a job as you can ask a second-year player to do. The numbers speak for themselves and Gueye was a really impactful defensive player last season.

Now, let's talk about the offense. The shooting percentages are not great for a 6'11 big man, shooting just 42% overall from the field and 26% from three, finishing with an EFG% of 49.1%, which is in the 13th percentile in the league. Now, that was to be expected because whether it was coming out of college at Washington State or in the G-League, Gueye was known to be more advanced on the defensive end of the court. The problem for the Hawks became that the other just started completely ignoring Gueye on the offensive end of the court.

There are reasons to believe that Gueye is going to improve on that end though. He shoots fairly well from the free throw line (76%) to make you believe the three-point shooting can at least become reliable and he is athletic enough be a better rim runner with Trae Young and finish better at the rim, which was not a strength of his this season. The lack of experience with the starters was noticeable this season, but with more reps, he became better and there is enough to make you think there is still plenty more to unlock there for Mo.

So what lies ahead? With Johnson back, Gueye is not going to be asked to be the starter again for the Hawks, but he could be a really useful depth piece that Quin Snyder can use off the bench, especially on defense. Will he be the main option at the backup four spot or could he even be the backup center? Atlanta has always viewed Gueye as more of a four, but he did play some backup center minutes this season and did them well. I don't know if that is plausible for the Hawks, but it is worth pointing out. The biggest thing for Gueye is to make strides on offense, that way he can stay on the court longer and not become a liability for the Hawks on that end.

All in all, I would view this as a successful season for Gueye, given the expectations at the start of the year. Next year is going to be a big developmental year for him and seeing how he fits with the Hawks core long term going forward.

Overall Grade: B+

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