Reports: Louisville Expected to Pursue Duke '23 Signee Mackenzie Mgbako

The top-15 forward recently requested a release from his National Letter of Intent with the Blue Devils.

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - One the top prospects in the Class of 2023 is now back on the market, and it seems that the Louisville men's basketball program is expected to make a significant run at them.

On Tuesday, Gladstone (N.J.) Roselle Catholic forward and Duke signee MacKenzie Mgbako announced that he has requested a release from National Letter of Intent with the Blue Devils. The move coincides with freshman forward Kyle Filipowski opting to return to Durham for his sophomore season.

While Duke has yet to officially release Mgbako from his NLI, a couple college basketball insiders believe that Louisville will not only insert themselves into the mix for his commitment, but could be one of the favorites to land him. The Athletic's Brendan Marks posted to Twitter that Louisville or the professional route was something to "keep an eye on," while On3's Jack Pilgrim tweeted that he expected Louisville to "make a push" alongside North Carolina.

The 6-foot-8, 210-pound stretch forward is a consensus five star prospect amongst the four major recruiting services, and was recently tabbed as a McDonald's All-American. He ranks as high as the No. 6 prospect in the class according to Rivals, and sports a 247Sports Composite rating of 0.9977.

Should Mgbako commit to Louisville, he would be the Cardinals' second-highest rated prospect of the modern recruiting era. Samardo Samuels is No. 1 with a 0.9987 rating in the Class of 2008.

As you can imagine, the Mgbako has been extremely productive in almost every basketball setting that he takes part in. He recently poured in a game-high 22 points and eight rebounds at the Nike Hoop Summit All-Star Game this past weekend, and averaged 16.7 points and 7.9 rebounds per game with the N.J. Scholars last summer during the Nike EYBL. During his senior season at Roselle Catholic, Mgbako averaged 17.3 points, 9.8 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.6 blocks in 15 tracked games.

The Cardinals went just 4-28 under first year head coach Kenny Payne, and roster management has been in full swing since the end of their season. Louisville has seen seven players enter the transfer portal, including leading scorer El Ellis. Only Mike James, J.J. Traynor, Brandon Huntley-Hatfield and Emmanuel Okorafor are returning.

Conversely, Payne and his staff have been hard at work attempting to bring in fresh talent for next season. So far this offseason, Louisville has landed five-star 2023 center Dennis Evans, former Illinois guard Skyy Clark and five-star 2023 reclass wing Trentyn Flowers. They are also set to welcome top-70 wings Kaleb Glenn and Curtis Williams Jr., plus JUCO guard Koron Davis as part of their 2023 signing class.

(Photo of Mackenzie Mgbako: Maria Lysaker - USA TODAY Sports)

You can follow Louisville Report for future coverage by liking us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram:

Facebook - @LouisvilleReport
Twitter - @UofLReport
Instagram - @louisville_report

You can also follow Deputy Editor Matthew McGavic at @Matt_McGavic on Twitter