2024 NBA Draft: Jonathan Mogbo's Game Has More Upside than Downside

With one of the most interesting backstories of any prospect in this class, Jonathan Mogbo is a former guard who went through a growth spurt and now stands at 6-foot-8 with a 7-foot wingspan. He played at four different colleges — including two JUCO stops — over the past four years on his path to the NBA. 

Mogbo has somewhat of an old-school game, especially with the power and physicality he operates with. He will play five at the next level, with the opportunity to also play some four depending on where he lands. The primary reason he isn’t labeled as a modern big is the fact that he isn’t a shooter. With that in mind, that inability shouldn’t hold him back from being a very productive NBA player. 

When evaluating prospects, they are often graded based on what they can’t do on the court. In reality, unless that player is being drafted with hopes of being a star in the league, they should probably be graded based on what they can do. Having upside is great, but when evaluating what a role player can bring to your team, it’s often more about what they can do. Rather than overthinking Mogbo’s inability to space the floor, appreciate what he does bring to the table. 

For starters, he was one of the most efficient scorers in the country last season. Mogbo is a strong finisher at the rim and doesn’t need a high volume of shots to score. He is also a very good positional passer, which comes from his experience being a guard before his growth spurt. The 22-year-old is a walking double-double who averaged 14.2 points and 10.1 rebounds per game last season at San Francisco while shooting 63.6% from the floor. 

Mogbo is comfortable with the ball in his hands and putting it on the deck, which is one of the primary reasons he’s such a dangerous player in transition. He’s very athletic with speed and pop, plus the ability to pull down rebounds and push the floor. Defensively, he has proven to be both a highly productive shot blocker and a good team defender who can get active in passing lanes. It will be interesting to see how he defends in space at the next level in the pick-and-roll heavy NBA, but overall he’s a solid defender. 

Again, it’s easy to write Mogbo off as a prospect because he doesn’t shoot threes. But as a highly productive role player, he doesn’t have to be perfect or a floor spacer.  There’s so much he can do to help a team and has shown an enhanced version of his game with each stop over the past four years. 

Jonathan Mogbo deserves more recognition as a prospect. 

NICK CRAIN

Nick is co-founder and lead draft analyst for Draft Digest. A credentialed NBA reporter for over five years, he's covered the league for various outlets including SLAM and Forbes.

Follow CrainNBA