2020 No. 1 Recruit Evan Mobley Compared to Giannis, Kevin Garnett by AAU Coach
January 10, 2020
The top high school boys basketball recruit in 2020 is already taking on some large comparisons before he even steps foot on a college campus.
Center Evan Mobley, 247Sports' top player in this year's class, is being heralded by some as a generational talent on par with two of the NBA's premier players over the last 20 years. Speaking to The Undefeated, his AAU coach, Etop Udo-Ema, called the Californian's game a "mixture of Giannis Antetokounmpo and Kevin Durant" and who can play like Kevin Garnett.
"He is as perfect a basketball player that I've ever seen," Mobley's high school coach, Ray Barefield, said. "We all know he's going to be in the NBA. When he picks up weight and if he's on the right team, he could be an All-Star with a big-time career."
The 6-11, 205-pound Mobley has committed to USC, where his father Eric is associate head coach and his brother Isaiah is a freshman power forward.
"He's a great defensive player who can change the course of any game," Udo-Ema said. "I've been coaching for 30 years and I've seen pretty much every top player that has been through Southern California, and if he develops, he can be better than any of them. Once he gets bigger and stronger, there is no ceiling for this kid."
Given his upbringing, it only makes sense. Mobley's father told The Undefeated he had his kids dribble basketballs as they recited the alphabet as toddlers.
Eric Mobley joined Andy Enfield's coaching staff at USC in March 2018 after running AAU teams in California. He played collegiately at Portland before landing at Cal Poly Pomona.
In an era where top high school recruits are either going abroad to play professionally before they can enter the NBA—like LaMelo Ball and RJ Hampton—or sitting out their freshman season—like James Wiseman has chosen to do after starting the year with Memphis—Mobley is set to play for a Trojans team that will count him as one of its best recruits since O.J. Mayo and DeMar DeRozan.
Simply put, Mobley is exactly the type of player Enfield has been searching for at USC for some time now—especially as rival UCLA has trotted out college stars like Lonzo Ball, Kevin Looney and Shareef O'Neal.
If Mobley can play close to the level his current coaches are projecting, two of the Pac-12's marquee names might be able to reignite a rivalry that's long felt dormant.