Former KU basketball star Ochai Agbaji confident heading into Year 2 with NBA’s Jazz

Former University of Kansas basketball guard and 2022 NCAA champion Ochai Agbaji remembers the day he realized he truly belonged in the NBA.

“It was probably the first time I started getting real minutes, at Houston when I was making corner 3s, making shots, making some plays. It was that moment when I knew I could contribute and be part of this team and play in this league,” Agbaji, a 6-foot-5, 23-year-old second-year member of the Utah Jazz said of a Jan. 5 contest against the Houston Rockets. He was speaking to reporters at Jazz Media Day held last week in Salt Lake City.

The Oak Park High and KU graduate scored 11 points on 4-of-5 shooting (3-of-4 from 3) while playing 18 minutes in Utah’s 131-114 victory.

Prior to that game, Agbaji had logged double-digit minutes in just five games of his 2022-23 rookie campaign. He also spent nine games early-on with the Jazz’s G League affiliate, the Salt Lake City Stars.

After the game in Houston, a confident Agbaji not only emerged as a regular part of the Jazz rotation, but started the final 20 games. The No. 14-pick of the 2022 NBA Draft (by Cleveland, traded to Utah) scored a career-high 28 points in an 118–114 victory over the Denver Nuggets on April 8 in Salt Lake City.

The next night he was ejected for throwing a basketball in the direction of one of the officials in the closing two minutes of a season-ending road loss to the Los Angeles Lakers.

“I think getting thrown out the last game isn’t the best start for this season, but I still think going into this year I do feel lot more comfortable talking to the refs and all that,” Agbaji said at media day.

Agbaji — he averaged 7.9 points, 2.1 rebounds and 1.1 assist per game with the Jazz his rookie season (13.6 points per game as a starter the last 20 games) — enters Year 2 as not only a likely starter, but a team leader.

“What I learned my first year (is) it’s still basketball at the end of the day. The stuff I bring to the court and my team is something special from a leadership aspect,” Agbaji said.

His goal is to “step into a little bit of a leadership role (with seventh-year NBA veteran Lauri Markkanen) as far as making sure everyone is aligned on our team, being that guy on our team everyone looks to for confidence, being out there making the right play, playing hard, leading off my actions.”

Agbaji believes he can be a great help to this year’s Jazz rookies.

Utah selected three players in the first round of the 2023 draft: Taylor Hendricks (forward from UCF) at No. 9, Keyonte George (guard from Baylor) at No. 16 and Brice Sensabaugh (forward from Ohio State) at No. 28.

Agbaji said he’ll tell the trio to “keep working hard, have a positive attitude. That’s what I was told last year. The different steps and roles I had last year, thinking back to that, having a positive attitude helped me a lot.”

Agbaji continued, reflecting on what a rookie season is like for an NBA player.

“You learn something from every role,” Agbaji said. “You learn something from the G League. That’s where I started. As I got more minutes through the season, it was thinking back to the G League, what I did there to get me on the court at first. That’s defense and playing hard. Thinking back to that, even when my role changed at the end of the season, the last 20 games, it was still defense, playing hard and counting on that.”

Agbaji — he worked out in both Utah and in Arizona with high-performance consultant Phil Beckner much of this past offseason — has identified areas for improvement.

“Really just getting downhill, handling the ball better, shooting the ball better,” said Agbaji. He hit 42.7% of his shots, including 35.5% from 3 last season. “Putting main focus on getting downhill, getting fouled and being physical on my drive.”

Agbaji is already regarded as a strong defender.

He wants to “be a guy who can take on the challenge of guarding their best player and also contributing offensively, being consistent and efficient offensively, getting to my spots and making sure everybody else is getting to theirs too.”

Agbaji’s teammates marvel at his physical condition.

“Crazy cardio, crazy. His body is just incredible,” Jazz forward Luka Samanic said of Agbaji in an interview with deseret.com. “And the game is slowing down for him, for sure. I think he’s just going to get better and better.”

He needs continued improvement to maintain significant minutes with a Jazz team that is considered full of young talent. In fact, the former Jayhawk did not start Utah’s exhibition opening victory over the Los Angeles Clippers on Sunday in Honolulu.

Coach Will Hardy went with Collin Sexton and Talen Horton-Tucker at guard, Markkanen and John Collins at forward and Walker Kessler at center. Agbaji came off the bench to score nine points with three rebounds in 19 minutes. Amazingly, 13 members of the Jazz played 12 or more minutes.

Suffice it to say it will be a competitive camp.

“In the limited time I’ve been able to watch the Jazz run offensive sets and scrimmage over the last few days (at preseason camp), one of the people that has really stood out is Ochai Agbaji,” wrote Sarah Todd of deseret.com. “After having an incredibly successful end to the 2022-23 season, he doesn’t look like he wasted any time getting back up to speed.

“Agbaji is in incredible shape and his understanding of spacing and his timing on backdoor cuts and drives into the lane have been very impressive. While a lot of the conversation surrounding the Jazz has been about the point guard position, Agbaji is not going to let the coaches off easy when it comes to doling out minutes on the wing.”

He appears ready to accept any role on the squad.

“We know our goal is to win, every single night,” Agbaji said, “not back down, play hard.”