NBA Draft surprise: Ex-KU forward Zuby Ejiofor of St. John’s taken 23rd overall
AI-generated summary reviewed by our newsroom.
- Atlanta selected ex-Jayhawk Zuby Ejiofor with the No. 23 pick in 2026.
- Ejiofor was the 2026 Big East player of the year after averaging 16.3 points.
- Hawks cited Ejiofor’s defensive versatility and playmaking as reasons for selection.
Former University of Kansas basketball forward Zuby Ejiofor was considered a possible late first-round or early-to-mid second-round selection heading into Tuesday night’s NBA Draft in Brooklyn, New York.
The ever-athletic 6-foot-9, 240-pound native of Garland, Texas, who left KU after playing limited minutes during his freshman campaign (2022-23) and spent the last three seasons at St. John’s, fared much better than that.
The Atlanta Hawks selected the 2026 Big East player of the year as the No. 23 overall pick in Round 1.
Not bad for somebody who failed to receive an invitation to sit with family members and friends in the green room of Barclays Center, reserved for all-but-certain first-rounders.
“The guy’s a beast,” Atlanta Hawks president of basketball operations Onsi Saleh told the Atlanta Journal and Constitution. “If you guys have seen him play at St. John’s, you’re talking about a guy that switches one through five, could guard point guards, guard bigs or big wings, it doesn’t really matter.
“I think with him, it’s like the high-level processing he has offensively. (It) is just like he makes the right play every single time. He’s a really good passer for his size, giant wingspan, could do all that stuff,” Saleh added.
“If he continues to develop the outside shot ... I think he shot it pretty decently from the free-throw line, so there’s some indicators there that make sense for him to be a shooter at the next level, too. Now it’s not what we want him to do all the time either. This guy is somebody that you see playoff basketball and he’s a guy that fits.
“We needed somebody like that and brings a tenacity, runs up and down the court. But I think the biggest thing I could point to is probably just more of the shooting development. But I think that just comes in time,” Saleh noted.
Ejiofor averaged 16.3 points on 53.6% shooting last season. He hit 71.8% of his free throws and 30.5% of his 3s.
Ejiofor became the first Red Storm player to be drafted since Sir’Dominic Pointer in 2015 and the first St. John’s player since Maurice Harkless in 2012 to be selected in the first round.
He’s the only Big East player in the last 20 years to lead his team in points per game, rebounds per game, assists per game and blocks per game. He’s the first Big East player to win league player of the year, defensive player of the year and postseason tourney MVP in the same season.
He also helped St. John’s to a second-round NCAA Tournament victory over KU as the Red Storm reached the Sweet 16 for the first time in 27 years.
“Going in the first round was a question mark, with teams unsure if he had a position at the next level as a 6-foot-8 tweener. But the Hawks clearly valued Ejiofor for his defensive versatility, internal development and winning traits,” wrote Ted Holmlund and Zach Braziller of the New York Post.
St. John’s coach Rick Pitino said before the draft that the team that took Ejiofor would be acquiring a “special, special young man. They’re going to get a relentless player who is going to be around for 12, 13 years of helping to create a winning culture.”
Thomas Cavanagh of SB Nation wrote: “Ejiofor joins a young and scrappy Atlanta Hawks team that will mesh well with his physical style of play. Last season, the Hawks defied expectations following their midseason trade of franchise face Trae Young, entering the playoffs as of the hottest teams in the Eastern Conference. They bowed out in the first round to the New York Knicks in six games, owning the conciliatory distinction of being the only playoff team to win more than one game in a series against the eventual NBA champions.
“Barring the return of Jonathan Kuminga and Zaccharie Risacher for the 2026-27 season, Ejiofor will battle for frontcourt minutes with starting center Onyeka Okongwu (15.2 points per game, 7.6 rebounds per game in 2025-26), forward Asa Newell (5.2 ppg, 2.2 rpg), and bench player Mouhamed Gueye (4.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg),” Cavanagh added.
