Bogues was born in Baltimore, Maryland, and grew up in the Lafayette Court housing projects. He was raised by his mother after his father went to prison. He played at Dunbar High School in Baltimore, where he was coached by Bob Wade, later the head coach at the University of Maryland. He was a teammate of future NBA players David Wingate, Reggie Williams and Reggie Lewis. The 1981–82 Dunbar Poets finished the season at 29–0 during Bogues' junior season and finished 31–0 during his senior season, and were ranked first in the nation by USA Today.
College
He played four years at Wake Forest University, averaging 11.3 points, 8.4 assists and 3.1 steals per game in his junior year. He followed with a senior campaign in which he averaged 14.8 points, 9.5 assists, 3.8 rebounds and 2.4 steals per game. When his collegiate career ended, he was the ACC career leader in steals and assists. Bogues played for the USA national team in the 1986 FIBA World Championship and won the gold medal.
NBA career
After a brief stint playing for the Rhode Island Gulls in the USBL, Bogues was drafted 12th overall in the 1987 NBA draft by the Washington Bullets, and was part of a talent-laden draft class that also included David Robinson, Reggie Miller, Scottie Pippen, and Kevin Johnson. In his rookie year, Bogues was a teammate of Manute Bol who stood tall. They were the tallest and shortest players in NBA history at the time, with difference between them. Bol and Bogues appeared on three magazine covers together. Bogues blocked 39 shots as a professional player, including one by tall Patrick Ewing, on April 14, 1993. Bogues reportedly had a vertical leap, but his hands were too small to hold on to a ball to dunk one-handed.
The Miami Heat and Charlotte Hornets were set to enter the NBA for the 1988–89 NBA season. Despite their weakness at the point guard position, Bogues was left unprotected by the Bullets. The Hornets selected him in the June 22, 1988 NBA expansion draft. As Bogues settled in Charlotte, he established himself as an exceptional passer, a great stealer, and one of the fastest players on the court. Bogues spent ten years in Charlotte as the Hornets, led by Alonzo Mourning and Larry Johnson, became one of the NBA's most popular teams and a perennial playoff contender. Bogues was one of the most popular players in Hornets history. He is the Hornets' career leader in minutes played, assists, steals, turnovers, and assists per 48 minutes.
Later career
Six games into the 1997–98 NBA season, Bogues was traded, along with Tony Delk, to the Golden State Warriors in exchange for B. J. Armstrong. Bogues played two seasons with the Warriors, and then signed as a free agent with the Toronto Raptors, where he would finish his career. Although he was later traded to the New York Knicks and then to Dallas Mavericks, he did not play in a game for either team.
NBA career statistics
Regular season
Playoffs
Career after the NBA
After leaving the NBA, Bogues worked in the real estate business until August 3, 2005, when he was named head coach of the Charlotte Sting in the Women's National Basketball Association, despite a lack of coaching experience. He was shorter than all of his players—at 5'6", Helen Darling was the shortest Sting player. Bogues led the Sting to a 14–30 record before the team folded in January 2007. In 2011, he became the head coach of United Faith Christian Academy boys' high school basketball team in Charlotte, North Carolina after serving as an assistant to former head coach Shaun Wiseman. His autobiography, In the Land of Giants, recounts the struggles of growing up in inner-city Baltimore and achieving success in the NBA. On March 18, 2014, Bogues was named the Charlotte Hornets' Ambassador, participating in the team's rebranding.
Television and movie appearances
Bogues appeared in the movie Space Jam, as one of five NBA players whose playing ability is stolen by the villainous Monstars. He had a cameo appearance in the movie Juwanna Mann. Bogues made a cameo appearance in TV seriesCurb Your Enthusiasm as himself, sharing a restroom with Larry David and Richard Lewis and nearly having an altercation with David after catching them looking at his penis while urinating. In 1996, Bogues had a cameo at the end of Eddie in which Whoopi Goldberg's character flirts with him. He then walks out onto the court to support her character preventing Wild Bill from moving the Knicks. He made a cameo appearance on an episode of Saturday Night Live with Charles Barkley hosting and Nirvana the musical guest. He also appeared in an episode of Hang Time where he spoke against steroids. Bogues appeared in "Rebound", the first episode of season 7 of Royal Pains, in which he attended a welcoming party hosted by Ms. "New Parts" Newberg. Bogues was interviewed for Baltimore Boys, an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary that highlighted the Dunbar Poets high school basketball team. In 2019, Bogues appeared in a series of commercials for the web hosting companyGoDaddy.
