Mizzou star Mark Mitchell awaits second round of NBA Draft
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
As former Mizzou star Mark Mitchell awaits the start of the second round of the 2026 NBA Draft on Tuesday, he's on the cusp of starting the next chapter of his career.
The Kansas City, Kansas native did not hear his name called in the first 30 picks of the Draft, on Tuesday night, but did come into the week as a projected mid-to-late second round pick. If those projections hold true, he could hear his name called out at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York on Wednesday.
Mitchell has drawn plenty of attention for team around the league in the pre-draft process, as reports said he worked out for the Charlotte Hornets, Sacramento Kings, Dallas Mavericks and the reigning NBA Champion New York Knicks. He also played in the Portsmouth Invitational, which is four-day tournament for graduating college seniors. It features the top 64 college prospects, who all compete in front of league scouts.
However, there are some outlets that project Mitchell could also end up signing a two-way contract, after the NBA Draft wraps up, as well. In fact, as of Wednesday afternoon, ESPN did not predict Mitchell to get selected in the second round.
Mizzou head coach Dennis Gates caught up with ABC 17 Sports Director Nathalie Jones, before the draft began, and detailed what a team would be getting if they were to take a chance on Mitchell.
"The team is getting one of the most versatile players in the country," Gates said. "Great size, great strength, great ability, one of the top guys in the country at drawing fouls, but also a guy that can facilitate. We were able to put him in a natural position, ultimately a position where he facilitated, a little bit of everything, brought the ball up the court. There's not a position he didn't play. He played the one through the five and I'm just thankful we had the right players around him and also his accolades and those things that he was able to do."
But, the former MU forward has been all over the map, as far as projections go. He checked in as the No. 73 prospect overall in ESPN's Top-100 and No. 85 in CBS Sports' Top-100. Tankathon, a popular sports statistics website, is putting Mitchell down as the 72nd-best player available, while writers from the Ringer and the Athletic slotted him as the 45th-best and 68th-best player, respectively.
He is hoping to be just the Third Tiger in the last eight seasons to be drafted the the 43rd player overall since 1947. The last Mizzou player to hear their name called was fan favorite Kobe Brown, who was the final pick in the first round of the 2023 Draft for the Los Angeles Clippers.
When the forward came to Columbia from Duke ahead of the 2024-25 campaign, he said he wanted to get back to playing like himself, after facing some tough times in Durham, North Carolina. He achieved his goal and then some in his two seasons under head coach Dennis Gates. Following his senior season, Mitchell was named to the All-SEC Second Team for a second season in a row, which made him just the second player in program history to earn All-SEC honors twice since MU joined the league in 2012.
He helped lead the Tigers to the NCAA Tournament in his farewell season in Columbia, as he led his team with 18.3 points, 5.2 rebounds and 3.6 assists per game. He’s now just the second player in school history to lead his team in scoring, rebounding and assists in the same season, joining Albert White in 1998-99. Mitchell was also one of just eight players nationally to total 600 points, 170 rebounds and 110 assists in his final collegiate season. His 18.3 points per game were the most by a Tiger in 12 years and ranked eighth in the Southeastern Conference and 76th nationally.
Down the stretch, Mitchell was everything for Coach Gates and company in the final few games of the 2025-26 season, as he averaged 23.7 points in the final seven games of the season and helped MU to the first round of the NCAA Tournament. That run included a pair of back-to-back 32-point games in the regular-season finale and in the SEC Tournament, making him the first Tiger to record back-to-back 32-point games since the 1987-88 campaign.
The second round of the NBA Draft will begin at 7 p.m. CT on ESPN.
Tune into ABC 17 News at 10 for updates on Mark Mitchell's NBA Draft journey.
