Ademola Okulaja (10 July 1975 – 17 May 2022) was a German professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. The last team he played for were the

Brose Baskets Brose Bamberg is a German professional basketball team from Bamberg, Franconia / North Bavaria. The club has won the German Championship title nine times and the German Cup five times. The club currently plays in the German top tier Basketball ...

of the Basketball Bundesliga. After his playing career, he became an agent for NBA player Dennis Schröder. A 2.06 m (6' 9") forward, Okulaja received 172 caps for the German national team, serving as a team captain for many years and winning bronze at the 2002 World Championships. He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

in the United States at

North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and ...

and flirted briefly with the NBA before moving on to a successful career in Europe.

Early life

The son of a German mother and a Nigerian father, Okulaja was born in Nigeria but moved to

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and List of cities in Germany by population, largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's List of cities in the European Union by population within ci ...

with his family at the age of three. In 1995, he graduated from John F. Kennedy School in Berlin, before enrolling at the

University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...

Collegiate career

Okulaja played college basketball at

from 1995 to 1999. During the 1997–98

NCAA The National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) is a nonprofit organization that regulates student athletics among about 1,100 schools in the United States, Canada, and Puerto Rico. It also organizes the athletic programs of colleges an ...

season, he was a member of new coach Bill Guthridge's successful "six starters" rotation with Antawn Jamison,

Vince Carter Vincent Lamar Carter Jr. (born January 26, 1977) is an American former professional basketball player who serves as a basketball analyst for ESPN. He primarily played the shooting guard and small forward positions, but occasionally played Powe ...

Ed Cota Eduardo Enrique Cota (born May 19, 1976) is a Panamanian-American former professional basketball player. High school career Cota played his freshman and sophomore years at Brooklyn, New York's Samuel J. Tilden High School. As a sophomore, he ...

Shammond Williams Shammond Omar Williams (born April 5, 1975) is a retired American-born naturalized Georgian professional basketball player. Standing at , he played at both point guard and shooting guard positions. During his career he played in the NBA and in ...

and

Makhtar N'Diaye Amadou Makhtar N'Diayé (born 31 December 1981) is a Senegalese former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. He made fourteen appearances for his country at international level in 2002, notably participating in the 2002 FIFA Wor ...

. In his senior season, he was named

MVP In team sports, a most valuable player award, abbreviated 'MVP award', is an honor typically bestowed upon an individual (or individuals, in the instance of a tie) whose individual performance is the greatest in an entire league, for a particu ...

of the Tar Heels basketball team and won a spot on the 1998–99 All- Atlantic Coast Conference First Team. Okulaja was the first player in the history of UNC basketball who led the squad in scoring, rebounding, three-pointers made and steals.

Professional career

Okulaja played professionally for a variety of Euroleague teams, including ALBA Berlin in the 1994–95 season winning the

FIBA Korać Cup The FIBA Korać Cup was an annual basketball club competition held by FIBA between the 1971–72 and 2001–02 seasons. It was the third-tier level club competition in European basketball, after the FIBA European Champions' Cup (later renamed th ...

and again in 1999–00, and later

RheinEnergie Köln RheinEnergie can refer to: * RheinEnergie AG, energy company based in Cologne * RheinEnergieStadion, sports stadium in Cologne *Köln 99ers Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rh ...

(2006–07) in Germany;

CB Girona Club Bàsquet Sant Josep was a professional basketball team based in Girona, Catalonia, Spain. History The club was founded in 1962 by Ramon Sitjà as CB Sant Josep. In 1989 it became the Anonymous Sport Association (SAD). In 1987, when the ...

(2000–01 and 2003–04),

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

(2001–02),

Unicaja Malaga Unicaja is a Spanish savings bank based in Málaga and chartered as a caja de ahorros providing retail banking services. The banks full name is ''Monte de Piedad y Caja de Ahorros de Ronda, Cádiz, Almería, Málaga y Antequera'' after th ...

(2002–03) and

Pamesa Valencia Valencia Basket Club S.A.D., commonly known as Valencia Basket (), is a professional basketball team based in Valencia, Spain. The team plays in the Liga ACB and the EuroLeague, with home games played at the Fuente de San Luis. The club is spons ...

(2004–05) in Spain; and Benetton Treviso in Italy (2004). His ALBA Berlin team won the 1999–00 German national (

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

) championship. He won the "Rookie of the Year" award with Girona and was an All-League First Team selection that year. In 2002, he won the award for "Most Spectacular Player" at the Spanish All-Star Game. Okulaja had three different attempts to join the NBA; his first training camp experience was with the Philadelphia 76ers, then with the

San Antonio Spurs The San Antonio Spurs are an American professional basketball team based in San Antonio. The Spurs compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its home ...

and finally the

Utah Jazz The Utah Jazz are an American professional basketball team based in Salt Lake City. The Jazz compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference (NBA), Western Conference, Northwest Division (NBA), ...

, but was unable to make an NBA roster. In 2008, Okulaja was diagnosed with a

spinal tumor Spinal tumors are neoplasms located in either the vertebral column or the spinal cord. There are three main types of spinal tumors classified based on their location: extradural and intradural (intradural-intramedullary and intradural-extramedullar ...

and had to go into a one-year therapy. After it proved to be successful, he played one more season for the

. In July 2010, he announced his retirement from professional basketball.

German national team

Okulaja was also an experienced member of the Germany national team and one of the key figures of the team, alongside

Dirk Nowitzki Dirk Werner Nowitzki (, ; born June 19, 1978) is a German former professional basketball player who is a special advisor for the Dallas Mavericks of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Listed at , he is widely regarded as one of the gre ...

and

Patrick Femerling Patrick Oliver Femerling (born 4 March 1975) is a German former professional basketball player who played as a center. Professional career Femerling was born in Hamburg. He played for ALBA Berlin in Germany and with them he won three German L ...

. He played with the team at the European Championships in 1995, 1997, 1999 and 2001. He competed with the German national team at the 2002 FIBA World Basketball Championship in the US, winning bronze, and in Japan at the 2006 FIBA World Basketball Championship.

Post-playing career

Okulaja worked as analyst and commentator at

Sport1 Sport1 may refer to the following TV channels: * Sport1 (Eastern Europe) * Sport1 (Germany) * Sport1 (Lithuania) * Sport1 (Netherlands) Sport1 may refer to the following TV channels: * Sport1 (Eastern Europe) * Sport1 (Germany) * Sport1 (Lithuani ...

, a German sports channel. He founded pro4pros, a sports consulting company, and then became director of the German office of Octagon, a sports and entertainment company. Okulaja died on 17 May 2022 in

. He is survived by his wife and two children.

References

External links

Official websiteEuroleague.net Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Okulaja, Ademola 1975 births 2022 deaths Nigerian emigrants to Germany Naturalized citizens of Germany Alba Berlin players BC Khimki players Brose Bamberg players CB Girona players CB Lucentum Alicante players Baloncesto Málaga players FC Barcelona Bàsquet players German expatriate basketball people in Spain German expatriate basketball people in the United States German expatriate basketball people in Italy German expatriate basketball people in Russia German men's basketball players German sportspeople of Nigerian descent German people of Yoruba descent German sports agents Liga ACB players North Carolina Tar Heels men's basketball players Pallacanestro Treviso players Power forwards (basketball) Sportspeople from Lagos Valencia Basket players Yoruba sportspeople 2006 FIBA World Championship players 2002 FIBA World Championship players Basketball players from Berlin