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Why Did Mo Evans Go Undrafted in the 2001 NBA Draft?

Why did Mo Evans go undrafted in the 2001 NBA draft? His scoring and workouts pointed to a first-round pick; the teams making those picks saw him differently.

By Brett Hanson · Underdog Podcasts · January 12, 2019

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Maurice "Mo" Evans worked out for seven NBA teams before the 2001 draft. Most held picks between 15 and 25, where he said he expected to go. On draft night, he waited through both rounds. His name never came.

Why did Mo Evans go undrafted in the 2001 NBA draft? There is no public account from all 29 teams explaining their decisions. Evans had strong college numbers and what he calls strong workouts, yet no team used a pick on him. His expected draft range was his understanding of the feedback he received. It was never a promise.

In the Tales from the Association episode “Season 2: Mo Evans,” host Chris Horwedel asks how Evans made sense of it. Evans’s answer begins well before that night, with a young player trying to judge his own standing without much help. The episode was released on January 12, 2019.

How good was Mo Evans in college?

Evans grew up in Wichita and chose Wichita State partly so his family could watch him play. He told Horwedel the school believed in him when he felt under-recruited. As a freshman, he was coming off a stress fracture in his foot and had trouble finding steady minutes. His second season gave him a much clearer case.

In 1998–99, Evans averaged 22.6 points a game. Wichita State records list it among the highest scoring averages in school history. He scored 632 points that season. Horwedel also points to Evans’s three-point shooting: about 42 percent on six attempts a game. Those figures explain why a 19-year-old might start thinking about the draft, even on a team that finished 13–17.

After that sophomore year, Evans told Horwedel, he entered the draft process without anyone close to him who had gone through it. He knew how to prepare his body, but reading the market for NBA players was harder. “I didn’t have anybody that I tangibly knew that had gone pro,” Evans said.

He transferred to Texas in May 1999. The transfer rules then in force kept Evans out of games during the 1999–2000 season. He could practice. That wait is easy to miss when looking at his draft year. By 2001, he had spent four years in college, played three seasons and had one year of eligibility left.

At Texas, the numbers held up. Evans started all 34 games in 2000–01 and led the Longhorns with 15.6 points per game. He made 38.9 percent of his three-point shots and averaged 5.3 rebounds. Texas named him a third-team All-Big 12 pick by the coaches. His case was more than one big scoring year in Wichita.

Why did Mo Evans expect to be a first-round pick?

Evans told Horwedel his draft feedback put him near the top 15. That sounded promising. He worked out for seven teams, most of them picking in the middle or later part of the first round, and the invitations seemed to back up what he had heard.

The company in those gyms added to his confidence. Evans said his first workout included Jason Richardson and Shane Battier. He recalled sharing others with Tony Parker and Richard Jefferson. “You don’t work out with guys that aren’t in your draft space,” Evans said. It is a fair account of how he read the room, though a shared workout could not tell him which player a team would choose.

Horwedel suggests teams in 2001 may have valued potential more than college production. Evans disagrees. He had produced at two schools and thought he could keep getting better.

The draft did have a striking mix near the top. On June 27, Washington took high school player Kwame Brown first. Pau Gasol, playing in Spain, went third. Those picks show what some teams valued that year. They do not tell us why every team passed on Evans. No one in the episode produces a scout’s report that settles it.

Did leaving Texas early cost Evans a draft pick?

“I definitely shed tears on draft night.”
— Maurice "Mo" Evans, on Tales From the Association

Evans said he checked his likely draft position before giving up his senior year. Texas confirms that he entered the 2001 draft early. He told Horwedel he would have returned to school had he known he would go unpicked. That regret has a precise shape: one more season with a strong Texas team.

Freshman point guard T.J. Ford arrived for the 2001–02 season. Ford led the nation with 8.27 assists per game, and Texas reached the Sweet 16. Evans said he would have liked the chance to play alongside him. Whether another year would have raised Evans’s draft stock is unknown. It would at least have given him another college season to make his case.

His account draws a useful line between feedback and a pick. A workout invitation showed interest. A draft grade helped him make a decision. Neither committed a team to anything. Evans said he was interested in the business side of sports and did not leave on a whim. That may be why the result still puzzled him when he spoke to Horwedel years later.

“I definitely shed tears on draft night,” Evans said. No mystery flaw is needed here. Teams made their choices, and Evans had expected a different outcome after a night he thought would end with his name being called.

What happened to Mo Evans as an NBA rookie?

Two days after the draft, Evans signed with Minnesota, he told Horwedel. That was quick. It might sound like a clean escape from draft night, but his first season gave him little room to play.

The Timberwolves’ records list 10 appearances and 45 minutes for Evans in 2001–02. He scored 21 points all season. Minnesota won 50 games, with Kevin Garnett and a full veteran rotation. Evans told Horwedel he was barely practicing because the team played so often. He would arrive early at games to work, then spend the game watching.

Horwedel reads out the 10 games and 45 minutes, and Evans agrees that the year was difficult. Evans also questions the deal he signed. He said he and his representatives should have sought a fully guaranteed two-year contract, rather than the arrangement they made. That is his judgment in hindsight. The first year left him with very little NBA film to show anyone.

Evans said he later trained with Garnett and came to the next camp ready to compete. He recalled scoring about 15 points in a preseason game in Philadelphia, then being told Minnesota would keep older players. The team offered him further preseason games to show himself to others. He was angry. His agent urged him to take a day before deciding what came next.

How did playing overseas help Mo Evans return?

Evans went to Greece after Minnesota let him go. He described the change to Horwedel through his locker-room space. Near Garnett in Minnesota, he had a locker. Greece was different. Evans said he found a hook marked with tape and his number.

The work mattered more than the hook. Evans said he played in Greece and then in Italy, where he worked under coach Ettore Messina at Benetton Treviso. He liked Messina’s teaching and the time spent on skills. Evans said the offense let him handle the ball and run pick-and-roll plays, jobs he rarely got in the NBA. The league record lists Messina as Treviso’s coach in 2003–04.

Evans told Horwedel he became an All-Star in each of his two European seasons and earned a player-of-the-year honor in Italy. Still, he said NBA offers did not follow at once. He signed a deal to play in Moscow, then left after a missed payment. That led to a chance at Sacramento’s crowded training camp.

The Kings signed Evans in October 2004. During the 2004–05 NBA season, he played 65 games and logged 1,233 minutes. Compare that with his 45 minutes as a rookie. Overseas play had given him games, coaching and a chance to show what he could do; Sacramento finally gave him NBA minutes.

Evans’s career continued with several more NBA teams. Yet the sharpest image in his draft story comes from the stop between Minnesota and Sacramento. A player who had expected a first-round call had to find room for his number on a strip of tape.