Ochai Young Agbaji (born April 20, 2000) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for 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), ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). As a senior at the

University of Kansas The University of Kansas (KU) is a public research university with its main campus in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, and several satellite campuses, research and educational centers, medical centers, and classes across the state of Kansas. Tw ...

, Agbaji was named a consensus first-team All-American and voted the Big 12 Player of the Year in 2022. He led the Jayhawks to a national championship and was named the Final Four Most Outstanding Player (MOP). Agbaji was drafted as the 14th overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft by the

Cleveland Cavaliers The Cleveland Cavaliers (often referred to as the Cavs) are an American professional basketball team based in Cleveland. The Cavaliers compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference (NBA), Ea ...

. However, he was traded to the Jazz in September before playing a regular-season game in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Early life

Agbaji was born in

Milwaukee Milwaukee ( ), officially the City of Milwaukee, is both the most populous and most densely populated city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin and the county seat of Milwaukee County. With a population of 577,222 at the 2020 census, Milwaukee is ...

, Wisconsin, but grew up in

Kansas City, Missouri Kansas City (abbreviated KC or KCMO) is the largest city in Missouri by population and area. As of the 2020 census, the city had a population of 508,090 in 2020, making it the 36th most-populous city in the United States. It is the central ...

. He grew up playing

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

, upon his father's encouragement, playing club soccer as well as

Amateur Athletic Union The Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) is an amateur sports organization based in the United States. A multi-sport organization, the AAU is dedicated exclusively to the promotion and development of amateur sports and physical fitness programs. It has ...

(AAU) basketball from a young age. Agbaji stopped playing soccer as a sophomore at Oak Park High School in

to focus on basketball. He grew nine inches between his freshman and junior years. In his basketball career at Oak Park, Agbaji did not receive offers from any Power Five college programs until his senior season. As a senior, he averaged 27.6 points and 8.6 rebounds per game for Oak Park and was named ''

Kansas City Star ''The Kansas City Star'' is a newspaper based in Kansas City, Missouri. Published since 1880, the paper is the recipient of eight Pulitzer Prizes. ''The Star'' is most notable for its influence on the career of President Harry S. Truman and as ...

'' All-Metro player of the year. Agbaji was considered a three-star

recruit __NOTOC__ Recruit can refer to: Military * Military recruitment * Recruit training, in the military * '' Rekrut'' (English: Recruit), a military recruit or low rank in German-speaking countries * Seaman recruit Books *''Le Réquisitionnaire'' (E ...

247Sports 247Sports is an American network of websites that focus mainly on athletic recruitment in college football and basketball. It is owned and operated by Paramount. The website hosts a large network of team-specific subsites, with each subsite b ...

and

Rivals A rivalry is the state of two people or groups engaging in a lasting competitive relationship. Rivalry is the "against each other" spirit between two competing sides. The relationship itself may also be called "a rivalry", and each participant o ...

. On February 8, 2018, he committed to play college basketball for

Kansas Kansas () is a state in the Midwestern United States. Its capital is Topeka, and its largest city is Wichita. Kansas is a landlocked state bordered by Nebraska to the north; Missouri to the east; Oklahoma to the south; and Colorado to the ...

over offers from

Texas A&M Texas A&M University (Texas A&M, A&M, or TAMU) is a public, land-grant, research university in College Station, Texas. It was founded in 1876 and became the flagship institution of the Texas A&M University System in 1948. As of late 2021, T ...

and

Wisconsin Wisconsin () is a state in the upper Midwestern United States. Wisconsin is the 25th-largest state by total area and the 20th-most populous. It is bordered by Minnesota to the west, Iowa to the southwest, Illinois to the south, Lake M ...

College career

Agbaji started his freshman season at the

as a

redshirt Redshirt, Red Shirt, or Redshirts may refer to: Entertainment * ''Red Shirts'' (film), a 1952 film about Anita Garibaldi by Franco Rossi * Redshirt (stock character), originally derived from ''Star Trek'', a stock character who dies soon after b ...

and was a member of the

scout team The following terms are used in American football, both conventional and indoor. Some of these terms are also in use in Canadian football; for a list of terms unique to that code, see ''Glossary of Canadian football''. 0–9 ...

. In early January 2019, his redshirt was lifted because Kansas needed depth after

Udoka Azubuike Udoka Timothy Azubuike (; born September 17, 1999) is a Nigerian-American professional basketball player for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Kansas Jayhawks. Early life Born in Lag ...

suffered a season-ending injury and

Silvio De Sousa Silvio De Sousa (born 7 October 1998) is an Angolan professional basketball player for Chorale Roanne of the LNB Pro A. He previously played for the Kansas Jayhawks. A native of Luanda, Angola, he competed with Montverde Academy and then IMG Aca ...

faced eligibility issues. On January 29, Agbaji made his first career start, scoring 24 points, bringing in seven rebounds, and stealing the ball twice in a loss to

Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...

. In his next game, he recorded his first

double-double In basketball, a double-double is a single-game performance in which a player accumulates ten or more in two of the following five statistical categories: points, rebounds, assists, steals, and blocked shots. The first "double" in the term ...

in a win over

Texas Tech Texas Tech University (Texas Tech, Tech, or TTU) is a public research university in Lubbock, Texas. Established on , and called Texas Technological College until 1969, it is the main institution of the five-institution Texas Tech University Sys ...

. Agbaji was named

Big 12 Conference The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its ...

Newcomer of the Week for the two performances. Agbaji averaged 8.5 points and 4.6 rebounds per game in 22 games, including 16 starts as a freshman. On November 5, 2019, Agbaji made his sophomore season debut, scoring 15 points in a loss to fourth-ranked

Duke Duke is a male title either of a monarch ruling over a duchy, or of a member of royalty, or nobility. As rulers, dukes are ranked below emperors, kings, grand princes, grand dukes, and sovereign princes. As royalty or nobility, they are ran ...

at the Champions Classic. During the aforementioned sophomore season, Agbaji was named Honorable Mention All-Big 12. As a sophomore, Agbaji averaged 10 points and 4.2 rebounds per game and finished second on the team with 46 three-pointers. He averaged 14.1 points per game as a junior, shooting 42 percent from the field. On April 8, 2021, he declared for the

2021 NBA draft The 2021 NBA draft, the 75th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual draft, was held on July 29, 2021, at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York. With the first overall pick, the Detroit Pistons selected Cade Cunningham. The NBA us ...

while maintaining his college eligibility. Agbaji made his senior season debut on November 9, 2021, recording 29 points in an 87–74 win against

Michigan State Michigan State University (Michigan State, MSU) is a public land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State of Michigan, the first of its kind in the United States. It i ...

at the Champions Classic. On January 24, 2022, he scored a career-high 37 points in a 94–91 double overtime win over Texas Tech. At the close of the season, Agbaji was voted the Big 12 Player of the Year and was named a consensus first-team All-American. Kansas won the 2022 NCAA tournament, and he scored 12 points in the championship game and was named the tournament MOP. On April 24, Agbaji declared for the 2022 NBA draft.

Professional career

Utah Jazz (2022–present)

Agbaji was selected with the 14th overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft by the

. On July 2, 2022, Agbaji signed his rookie scale contract with the Cavaliers. On September 1, 2022, Agbaji was traded, alongside

Collin Sexton Collin Darnell Sexton (born January 4, 1999) is an American professional basketball player for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Alabama Crimson Tide. In January 2017 Sexton was sel ...

Lauri Markkanen Lauri Elias Markkanen (born 22 May 1997) is a Finnish professional basketball player for the Utah Jazz of the National Basketball Association (NBA). In the 2017 NBA draft, he was taken by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the seventh overall pick b ...

, three first round picks, and two pick swaps, to the

in exchange for

Donovan Mitchell Donovan Mitchell Jr. (born September 7, 1996) is an American professional basketball player for the Cleveland Cavaliers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Nicknamed "Spida", he was drafted in the first round of the 2017 NBA draft w ...

. Agbaji had his NBA debut on October 19, playing one minute in a 123–102 win over the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

Career statistics

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2018–19 , style="text-align:left;",

, 22 , , 16 , , 25.9 , , .449 , , .307 , , .694 , , 4.6 , , .9 , , .5 , , .5 , , 8.5 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2019–20 , style="text-align:left;",

, 31 , , 31 , , 33.3 , , .428 , , .338 , , .673 , , 4.2 , , 2.0 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , 10.0 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;",

, 30 , , 30 , , 33.7 , , .420 , , .377 , , .689 , , 3.7 , , 1.9 , , 1.1 , , .5 , , 14.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

, 39 , , 39 , , 35.1 , , .475 , , .409 , , .743 , , 5.1 , , 1.6 , , .9 , , .6 , , 18.8 , -class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , , 122 , , 116 , , 31.9 , , .443 , , .357 , , .699 , , 4.4 , , 1.6 , , .9 , , .4 , , 12.8

Personal life

Agbaji's father, Olofu, moved from

Nigeria Nigeria ( ), , ig, Naìjíríyà, yo, Nàìjíríà, pcm, Naijá , ff, Naajeeriya, kcg, Naijeriya officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf o ...

to the U.S. when he was 17.Keegan, Tom
Tom Keegan: Ochai Agbaji, KU’s stealth recruit, fits right in
''

Lawrence Journal-World The ''Lawrence Journal-World'' is a daily newspaper published in Lawrence, Kansas, United States, by Ogden Newspapers. History Though the ''Journal-World'' title came into existence in 1911, the paper dates itself to 1858, according to the ...

, June 26, 2018.'' Agbaji's mother, Erica, and his father both played basketball at the

University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee The University of Wisconsin–Milwaukee (UW–Milwaukee, UWM, or Milwaukee) is a public urban research university in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. It is the largest university in the Milwaukee metropolitan area and a member of the University of Wiscons ...

. His older sister, Orie, played

volleyball Volleyball is a team sport in which two teams of six players are separated by a net. Each team tries to score points by grounding a ball on the other team's court under organized rules. It has been a part of the official program of the Summ ...

for

References

External links

Kansas Jayhawks bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Agbaji, Ochai 2000 births Living people 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American basketball players All-American college men's basketball players American men's basketball players American sportspeople of Nigerian descent Basketball players from Milwaukee Cleveland Cavaliers draft picks Kansas Jayhawks men's basketball players Salt Lake City Stars players Shooting guards Utah Jazz players