By Jon Cooper
Josh Okogie has rings on his mind.
An All-ACC guard at Georgia Tech (2016-18) before being selected with the 20th overall pick as an early entrant in the 2018 NBA Draft by the Minnesota Timberwolves, Okogie has his mind set on six rings. There’s the one he’s currently going after with the T-Wolves as an NBA champion and the five Olympic rings he’ll shoot for next year with his native Nigeria.
He really went to work double-dream chasing back in the summer.
“I did a lot of things, worked on a lot,” he said. “I also did Summer League, did (FIBA) World Cup, traveled a lot playing basketball. I just tried to build on what I did last year.”
Okogie built quite a foundation last year as a rookie in Minnesota. He averaged 7.7 points, 2.9 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 1.2 steals in 23.7 minutes in 74 games, and he appeared for Team World in the MTN DEW ICE Rising Stars Game at All-Star Weekend in Charlotte, going for 13 points and four assists. In the 2019 portion of the regular season, he started all 45 of Minnesota’s games, scoring 8.5 points, with 2.9 rebounds, 1.4 assists and 1.4 steals, in 26.7 minutes.
As at Tech, Josh used his length to make his presence felt on the defensive end, as he finished second among rookies in steals (88) and ninth in blocks (33). His 88 thefts were fourth-best in a season by a T-Wolves rookie and on March 10 against New York, he became only the fifth Minnesota rookie to record three steals and three blocks in the same game.
His lockdown defense even got him on SportsCenter on Feb. 13, after going one-on-one with Houston Rockets’ offensive machine James Harden, sticking with him, then smothering his step-back jumper, go jump-start the Wolves in their 121-111 win at Target Center.
Okogie, of course, plays it down.
“In basketball, you get blocked and you block shots,” he said. “I thought it was just a regular block. It wasn’t until after the game I realized how big everybody made it. To me, it was just a regular block.”
His second pro season has seen him improve his scoring (up to 8.5 ppg), his shooting percentage (.436, 50 points higher) and rebounds per game (5.1 up from 2.9). The boost in contributions and added experience are welcome on a T-Wolves team that started the year with the NBA’s fourth-youngest roster (24.91) and fourth-least experienced (3.40). He’s still the fourth-youngest player on the team.
On Monday night, Okogie was determined to play through pain in his left knee that had forced him to sit out the Wolves’ previous game. He felt a good game coming in the city where he’d thrived a little more than two miles down the road, and in the building where last year he scored 15 points (4-for-9 shooting, 2-for-6 from three, 5-for-6 from the line) with four boards, two steals and a block in 32:43.
“I don’t know if it’s because of the rehab or because of the city, but my knees feel pretty good today,” he said with a laugh at the morning shootaround, despite being on the hook for an estimated 40 tickets for family and friends. “Playing in Atlanta is fun. There’s a lot of energy in the city — family, friends, teammates, everybody’s going to be in attendance. It’s going to be fun.”
Atlanta had been fun in the past for Okogie.
As a freshman, he was four-time ACC Rookie of the Week and made the ACC’s All-Freshman team, and was named to the All-ACC third team as a sophomore, scoring more points over his two years than any Tech player since Matt Harping in the late 1990s. Harpring was selected 15th overall 20 years earlier by the Orlando Magic and played 11 years in the NBA.
On Monday night, Okogie had fun and laughed last. The T-Wolves topped the Hawks, 125-113, and he didn’t miss a shot, scoring seven points on 2-for-2 shooting, 1-for-1 from three, 2-for-2 from the line. He added two rebounds — one on each end — and an assist in 19 minutes. Although it’s early, the Wolves are eighth in the Western Conference at 9-8 (6-2 on the road).
“We kind of have road-court advantage,” he said, with a laugh. “I don’t know what that is. We have to continue to be good on the road. I think it’s going to be an easy-fix to win at home. But as long as we keep winning on the road and we fix the home problem.”
He’s already fixed winning for the home country.
Josh did that over the summer at the FIBA World Cup in China, leading Nigeria to a berth in the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo. Okogie had played for the U.S. in the 2017 U19 World Cup, but this time chose to play with his native country.
The second-youngest player on a roster that averaged 27 years of age, Josh led the team in scoring (12.6 ppg), assists (4.4), steals (2.4), and efficiency (17.0) while sharing the lead in blocked shots (1.2). In the final game, the decider for the Classification 17-32 Group M title, he scored 19 points, including making all nine tries from the line, with three steals, and two blocks — all team bests — as well as five rebounds and three assists (both second on the team) as Nigeria beat the host country, 86-73, to punch its ticket to Tokyo.
It’ll be Nigeria’s third straight Olympic berth, but Okogie’s first.
“As an athlete, Olympian is probably the best title that you can ever achieve,” he said. “There are only so many of them. To have the honor to say, ‘I’m an Olympian,’ that’s great. I’m very excited to see how Nigerian Basketball will be moving forward. It’s exciting to be a part of.”
So is his mastering the NBA learning curve.
“I’m learning every day,” he said. “I have to continue to be a sponge and soak up all the knowledge I can and just try and get better each and every day. Whether the results are good or whether the results are bad I just have to continue to work.”
