Ochai Agbaji Selected by Cleveland in 2022 NBA Draft
Ochai Agbaji was taken No. 14 overall by the Cleveland Cavaliers in the first round of the 2022 NBA Draft on Thursday night.
Agbaji, a 6-foot-5 guard who played for Kansas for four years, was the first Jayhawk off the board in the draft.
Agbaji led the Jayhawks to a national championship, was a consensus all-American, earned All-Big 12 Player of the Year and Most Outstanding Player of the Final Four last season, his fourth with the Jayhawks. Agbaji had career highs in scoring (18.6 points) and rebounds (5.1) last season.
Agbaji declared for the NBA Draft last year as a junior but came back to Kansas after getting feedback from NBA scouts. He implemented that to become one of the best players in the country last season.
Agbaji set the school record for consecutive 3-point field goals made at 53 games, as he started 116 games and played in 122 for his four-year career in Kansas. He left the Jayhawks No. 15 all-time in scoring with 1,652 points and fourth in made 3-point field goals with 250. He played 3,978 minutes, which is ninth-most in Kansas history.
In his junior season of 2020-21, Agbaji was an All-Big 12 honorable mention selection after he averaged 14.1 points per game and led the Big 12 in 3-pointers made per game with 2.6. He set a then-career high 26 points against Oklahoma in the Big 12 Tournament.
In 2019-20, the season was cut short by the COVID-19 pandemic and Kansas finished the season as the nation’s No. 1 team in the AP poll. Agbaji was again All-Big 12 honorable mention and averaged 10 points per game.
Agbaji started his freshman season in 2018-19 as a redshirt, but injuries forced Agbaji into the lineup and he averaged 8.5 points per game.
Matthew Postins can be found on Twitter @PostinsPostcard
