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 (graduating class ahead of him), Reggie Williams and Reggie Lewis (both in his graduating class). 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.

Bogues played for the USA national team in the 1986 FIBA World Championship, and won the gold medal.

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 7 ft 7 in (2.31 m) tall. They were the tallest and shortest players in NBA history at the time, with 28 inches (71 cm) difference between them. Bol and Bogues appeared on three magazine covers together.

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, Bogues was left unprotected by the Bullets. On June 22, 1988 the Hornets selected him in the 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.

Despite his height, Bogues managed to block 39 shots throughout his NBA span including one on 7 ft 0 in (2.13 m) tall Patrick Ewing. This happened on April 14, 1993 in the first quarter, when Ewing was pulling the ball back to go up for the shot and Bogues stripped him of the ball. Bogues reportedly had a 44-inch (110 cm) measured vertical leap, but his hands were too small to hold on to a ball to dunk one-handed. It has been claimed that Bogues once successfully dunked during pregame practice in December 1990, though this has never been confirmed.

In 1996, Bogues had a film 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.

Six games into the 1997–98 NBA season, Bogues' career in Charlotte ended when he 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 eventually finish his career. Although he was later traded to both the New York Knicks and Dallas Mavericks, he did not play in a game for either team.

Since 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. (Notably, he was shorter than all of his players—at 5'6", Helen Darling was the shortest Sting player and still three inches taller than her coach.) 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 re-branding.