Mackenzie Mgbako, a projected second-round pick, will withdraw from the NBA draft and spend his junior season at Texas A&M, he told ESPN on Tuesday.
“I decided to withdraw to focus on becoming a lock first-round pick next year,” Mgbako said. “I am committed to making the improvements to my game based upon feedback from NBA teams.”
The NCAA deadline for players to withdraw from the NBA draft and maintain college eligibility is Wednesday at 11:59 p.m. ET.
Mgbako, a top-10 high school recruit in 2023 and former McDonald’s All-American, spent his first two seasons at Indiana, averaging 12.2 points, 4.3 rebounds in 26 minutes over 65 games.
He elected to enter the transfer portal in late March and committed to Texas A&M several weeks later. However, he also announced his intentions to explore the NBA draft process, being invited to the G League Elite Camp in Chicago earlier this month.
Mgbako led the camp in scoring — posting 41 points and 11 rebounds in 41 minutes — to earn an invite to the more prestigious NBA Draft Combine. He continued to score there, too, adding another 31 points and 16 rebounds in 43 minutes. He finished the week shooting 13-of-26 from 3 while drawing free throws in bunches, significantly improving his outlook as an NBA prospect after also measuring just under 6-foot-9 in shoes.
“I look forward to building off of my experience at the combine and team workouts and translating that into a full season’s worth of basketball at Texas A&M,” Mgbako said. “I look forward to playing in Coach McMillan’s system, doing whatever is asked of me to help our team win, play in the NCAA tournament and go deep into March.”
Mgbako will be one of many new faces in College Station next season, as the Aggies were forced to completely rehaul their roster after coach Buzz Williams elected to depart for Maryland. Samford coach Bucky McMillan was hired to replace Williams, completing a meteoric rise from spending 12 years at Mountain Brook High School to coaching in the SEC after five seasons in the Southern Conference.
Just one player, Chris McDermott, who scored 9 points in 45 minutes of action last season, returns for the Aggies.
Also on Tuesday, Creighton transfer Pop Isaacs, more than a month after committing to Houston, has signed with the Aggies, sources told ESPN’s Jeff Borzello. Isaacs, a former All-Big 12 selection in 2023-24 at Texas Tech, had picked Houston as the apparent replacement for Milos Uzan, who had entered the NBA draft but withdrew his name from draft consideration on Tuesday.
Isaacs played in just eight games for Creighton last season before a hip injury caused him to miss the rest of the campaign. He was averaging 16.3 points, 4.8 rebounds and 3.9 assists prior to injury, including a 27-point performance against Kansas.
Including Isaacs, 10 players have signed with Texas A&M from the transfer portal, including Mgbako, North Alabama guard Jacari Lane, Kansas wing Rylan Griffen, Texas Tech big man Federiko Federiko, NC State guard Marcus Hill, Samford guard Joshua Holloway and others.
Jonathan Givony is an NBA draft expert and the founder and co-owner of DraftExpress.com, a private scouting and analytics service utilized by NBA, NCAA and International teams.
