Gueye spent two years at Washington State before declaring for the draft.
After two years playing the Washington State Cougars, Mouhamed Gueye has a new home in the NBA: the Atlanta Hawks via the Charlotte Hornets and the Boston Celtics. Gueye was selected 39th overall by the newly Michael Jordan-less Hornets in last night’s NBA Draft, the highest pick hailing from Wazzu since Klay Thompson was taken 11th overall in 2011. The team subsequently agreed to trade Gueye and 34th overall pick Colby Jones to the Celtics and then eventually to the Hawks.
Gueye is also the first player to be drafted from Washington State since the Portland Trailblazers selected CJ Elleby 46th overall in 2020.
To say that Gueye “drips with potential” might be underselling things a bit. His play in the low block progressed wonderfully over the last two years as he became arguably the most athletic big man in the Pac-12. As Bryce noted in his draft preview though, Gueye’s biggest weakness is his defense and he’ll need to get better quickly to get meaningful minutes in the league sooner rather than later.
The Senegalese big man finished last season as a member of the Pac-12 First Team and led the conference in double-doubles. Congrats to Mo on realizing a big dream of playing in the league!