Karen Mogbo refused to let her youngest son be late.

Jonathan was in his junior year of high school and playing point guard for the Florida Lightning – a 16-and-under travel UAA (University Athletic Association) team based out of Miami. However, the Mogbo family lived more than 70 miles away in West Palm Beach.

So every day after school, Ms. Mogbo would pick Jonathan up and drive him to practice. They’d grab food along the way, and he would have to eat it in the car. Sometimes he would take a nap. It was a long ride – 90 minutes or so, and that’s assuming I-95 traffic cooperated, which it often did not.

From a young age, one of the things Ms. Mogbo instilled in her sons is the tried-and-true lesson: to be early is to be on time. Jonathan became a quick favourite of the head coach, who would wonder how the kid coming all the way from Palm Beach was the first one in the gym and ready to work out.

At 16, Mogbo was only starting to grow into his eventually massive 6-foot-8 frame. He was still six years away from hearing his name called 31st overall at the 2024 NBA draft, fulfilling a lifelong dream. He wasn’t the best, tallest or most athletic player on that team – which included future NBA lottery pick Jett Howard and his older brother Jace, sons of Fab Five legend Juwan Howard – but his determination set him apart. It always has.

Mogbo was raised in Wellington, FLA, about 16 miles west of West Palm Beach. His mom is Jamaican and his dad, Chuck, is of Nigerian descent.

He’s the baby of the family. His two stepbrothers, Charles and Bryan, are both two decades his senior and were already adults and out of the house by the time he and his older brother Zach grew up. He and Zach are three years apart.

“I was very spoiled, I’ll say that,” Mogbo admitted. “Very spoiled.”

He was quiet; polite but reserved. The two boys were enrolled in private Christian school, so initially, their only friends were the ones they made at church. Their first taste of sport came when they were put into football. Mogbo, five years old at the time, played running back and linebacker. He was a husky kid, with “chunky cheeks” and an awkward stride, as his mom tells it, but once he got onto the field he would “tear it up.” The other kids nicknamed him Terminator.

He would play a little basketball and soccer between football seasons but didn’t take up organized hoops until the fourth grade. That’s when he met Scottie Barnes, one of his first AAU teammates.

Mogbo recalls his mom driving them to their first game. He also remembers that they were late; they had to wait outside Barnes’ house as he got ready. They may not have shared the same penchant for being on schedule, but their personalities meshed well and the two became fast friends: Scott and J-Mo.

“He was a funny guy, goofy, I would say he was really goofy,” Mogbo said of Barnes. “I feel like we bonded together because we are similar … We love to bring smiles to peoples’ faces.”

“He brought a lot of joy, just a cool person,” Barnes said of Mogbo. “He did a lot for me growing up … His family are great people, very loving to God, so grateful and blessed, and super humble. Just great people overall, and they have great hearts.”

The two friends played AAU together for a couple years before Barnes switched teams, but they kept in contact and then reconnected when both ended up at Cardinal Newman High School. Needing a place to stay that was closer to the school, Mogbo and his mother took Barnes in. He lived with them for his entire freshman year.

With three teenagers, and the two older boys popping in and out, there was a lot of testosterone in the house. Fortunately, Ms. Mogbo has always had a kind and welcoming heart, and almost always had a pot of her famous oxtail stew – with the accompanying rice and peas – on the stove.

When they weren’t at school or doing homework, Mogbo and Barnes would spend most of their free time working out and playing ball. Zach would get them into runs at LA Fitness and occasionally have to stand up for them when they would beat the older kids.

“They were inseparable,” Ms. Mogbo said. “[Barnes] was a good kid. Let me say it this way, they were both clowns. They were always picking at each other. But it was a privilege to have him. Never gave an ounce of problem. They both ate, they shared everything, they were like brothers.”

On the court, however, they were at very different stages of their development.

At nearly 6-foot-6, Barnes was almost fully formed and already in high demand. He would transfer to NSU University School in Fort Lauderdale the following year before getting recruited to famed Florida prep school and renowned basketball hotbed Montverde Academy. He was on the fast track to becoming a one-and-done Division I college player and top draft selection in the NBA.

Mogbo, who stood 5-foot-9, was in his shadow, sometimes literally. Ms. Mogbo has a photo of the two boys standing side by side, shoulder to shoulder – only one of their friends had to lift Jonathan up to fit into the picture.

“We have a lot of memories and pictures and all that from back in the day,” Mogbo said. “It’s always great to look back and see where we’re at now.”

Mogbo had felt the sting of rejection a few times over. He was a late........

© TSN