KU Jayhawks’ Ochai Agbaji turning attention to NBA Draft: ‘I’ll be in Phoenix working out’
Currently projected as the No. 16 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft by ESPN.com, Ochai Agbaji soon will shift his focus from national title celebrations to preparations for the June 23 festivities in Brooklyn, New York.
““I haven’t scheduled anything right now,” Agbaji, Kansas’ 6-foot-5, 215-pound senior men’s basketball guard out of Oak Park High School, said of workouts with NBA teams. He was speaking Monday night as part of a Facebook Live “meet and greet” sponsored by Dick’s Sporting Goods.
“I think it’ll be two weeks maybe until I get to working out again. I’ll be in Phoenix working out,” he added.
Agbaji last spring and summer worked out with fellow NBA prospects in Phoenix as he prepared for the draft. He entered his name in the 2021 NBA Draft on April 8, 2021 and withdrew his name from the draft in announcing his return to KU for his senior year on July 6, 2021.
In answer to a fan’s question Monday, he mentioned three NBA teams as providing a possible “fit” for the way he likes to play.
“I would say the Milwaukee Bucks,” said Agbaji, who lived in Milwaukee until he was 6, then moved to Kansas City. “I like watching them a lot. I like the Phoenix Suns, how they play. Maybe the Toronto Raptors. I like their organization as well.”
Obviously Agbaji, who averaged 18.8 points a game this past season on 47.5% shooting (103-of-252 from three for 40.9% shooting), would welcome playing anywhere in the league.
“I am blessed and honored to be in this position,” Agbaji said of being a likely first-round draft pick and maybe a lottery pick. “I think any team or teams that want me in their organization is a blessing. I don’t have any preference at all.”
He continued: “I am from Milwaukee. I watched a lot of Bucks games. We moved to Kansas City, where there is not really a team. I was watching (Kevin) Durant. He was my favorite. I watch players more than teams.”
Agbaji knows what goes into individual workouts for NBA teams. He auditioned for several franchises last spring and summer.
“It was a new process obviously,” Agbaji said. “I worked on some things I never worked on before. It translated into this year in how my work ethic was. Getting in extra workouts before practice, working harder every day. Mentally I learned from (NBA) trainers and all the people they have over there what I need to work on. It was a real good experience for me.”
Here’s what ESPN.com’s Jonathan Givony had to say about Agbaji’s status heading into the 2022 Draft.
“When Agbaji gets into rhythm and is playing with confidence, he looks like one of the most dynamic shot-makers in college basketball, rising up smoothly, pulling up in transition, ducking behind handoffs and sprinting off pin downs or staggers with outstanding footwork,” Givony wrote in a recent article.
“The senior won the last 11 games of his college career, was named a first-team All-American and likely secured a spot for his jersey to hang in the rafters of Allen Fieldhouse in the process. That should also translate to a spot in the green room on draft night and potentially hearing his name called in the lottery by NBA commissioner Adam Silver,” Givony added.
Agbaji, a communications major who turns 22 on April 20, Monday revealed his ideal career once his playing days are over.
“I would like to be a sports broadcaster. It’s something I always wanted to do. I like to watch TV commentators, guys on ESPN. That’s something I feel I can do, talk about sports, relate to sports and give my opinion on sports,” he said. “Being more an analyst, breaking down the game, talking about different matchups, stuff like that.”
Agbaji on Monday was asked to reflect on KU’s 72-69 national title victory over North Carolina in New Orleans.
“For us, going from being down 15 in the first half and coming back the second half, battling back to win that, there are a lot of emotions,” Agbaji said. The Jayhawks trailed UNC 40-25 at halftime.
“It is one of the best memories I’ll have at Kansas. I’ll never forget that for sure.”
Of the first half, Agbaji said: “Offensively things were getting stagnant. Things weren’t clicking. Defensively we needed to get some stops. We knew we had to flip the switch and be the aggressor the second half.
“In the locker room, guys were talking and saying one thing. Guys over here were saying another thing, things we need in the game to do better. I said, ‘Take a breath, calm down. We’ve got this.’ We’d been in that position before. A lot of guys were confident going into the second half more than ever. It was, ‘This is our last half together.’ We knew we had to fight for each other together. That’s what we did.”
As far as coach Bill Self’s leadership role at halftime. .... “He walked in the locker room. He said, ‘Would you rather be down nine with 2 (minutes) to go or 15 with 20 minutes to go?’ He was talking about the ’08 team. It was kind of special when he said that,” Agbaji said. The 2008 champions had a remarkable comeback in the late going in their overtime title victory over Memphis. “We came out on fire the second half. He didn’t say much else (at halftime). It was up to us to do it. We didn’t want to let each other down in that moment. We came through in the moment.”
And won KU’s fourth NCAA Tournament title and first since 2008.
“It feels amazing. It’s what I came here to do,” Agbaji said. “Basically to win and keep winning until there’s no more games. That was my goal in coming here. I’m glad I could do my part for Jayhawk nation.”
This story was originally published April 12, 2022 at 9:27 AM.
