Ochai Agbaji, Christian Braun join list of NBA first-rounders from KC area
Thursday’s NBA Draft produced a rarity for Kansas City: Two players from area high schools selected in the first round.
Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun heard their names called. First Agbaji with the last pick of the lottery, 14th overall to Cleveland, then Braun went 21st to Denver. The Kansas teammates helped the Jayhawks win a national championship this year. Before that, they were local high school stars.
As an Oak Park senior, Agbaji won the DiRenna Award as Kansas City’s top high school boys player. But he was the lowest rated of the four players in the Jayhawks’ 2018 recruiting class, according to Rivals.com.
The 6-5 Agbaji steadily improved throughout his college career. He considered entering the NBA Draft last season but returned to great college success, becoming the Big 12 men’s player of the year, a unanimous All-American and the Most Outstanding Player of the men’s Final Four.
Braun helped Blue Valley Northwest to three straight Kansas 6A championships and as a senior was named the state’s Gatorade boys player of the year. As a 6-7 junior this season, Braun was named to the all-Midwest Region and all-Big 12 Tournament teams.
Both players emerged from the AAU regional power MoKan program.
Kansas City area high schools have now produced 16 first-round selections, and on one other occasion two area players were picked in the first round of the same draft.
In 1985 big man Jon Koncak, who attended Center High and played at Arkansas, was taken fifth. Steve Harris, who played at Blue Springs High, went No. 19.
The first from Kansas City taken in the first round was Lucius Allen. The former Wyandotte star who won national championships at UCLA, was selected third overall in 1969 by the Seattle SuperSonics. After his rookie season, Allen was traded to the Milwaukee Bucks and won an NBA championship with his college teammate, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.
Before Thursday, the most recent first-rounder from a Kansas City school: Landry Shamet, the former Park Hill star who went to Wichita State and was selected by the Philadelphia 76ers at No. 26 in 2018.
Danny Manning, who played his senior season at Lawrence High, is the only area high school player to have been selected first overall.
First round NBA Draft picks who attended a Kansas City area high school
Lucius Allen, Wyandotte, 3rd overall, 1969, UCLA, Seattle
Larry Drew, Wyandotte, 17th, 1980, Missouri, Detroit
Jon Sundvold, Blue Springs, 16th, 1983 Seattle
Jon Koncak, Center, 5th, 1985, SMU, Atlanta
Steve Harris, Blue Springs, 19th, 1985, Tulsa, Houston
Danny Manning, Lawrence, 1st, 1988, Kansas, LA Clippers
Anthony Peeler, Paseo, 15th, 1992, Missouri, LA Lakers
Tyronn Lue, Raytown, 23rd, 1998, Nebraska, Denver
Kareem Rush, Pembroke Hill, 20th, 2002, Missouri, Toronto
Wayne Simien, Leavenworth, 29th, 2005, Kansas, Miami
Brandon Rush, Westport, 13th, 2008, Kansas, Portland (traded to Indiana)
Alec Burks, Grandview, 12th, 2011, Colorado, Utah
Willie Cauley-Stein, Olathe Northwest, 6th, 2015, Kentucky, Sacramento
Landry Shamet, Park Hill, 26th, 2018, Wichita State, Philadelphia
Ochai Agbaji, Oak Park, 14th, 2022, Kansas, Cleveland
Christian Braun, Blue Valley Northwest, 21st, 2022, Kansas, Denver
This story was originally published June 21, 2022 at 1:09 PM.