NBA Draft 2019 Prospect Watch: KZ Okpala

Strengths

Standing at 6’10” tall with a standing reach just under 9’0″ and a 7’2″ wingspan, while also possessing impressive speed and strong athleticism, Okpala is close to the prototypical forward of NBA teams’ dreams in terms of his physical attributes.

With those tools as a base to build from, Okpala automatically has a higher ceiling than many of his draft peers, and offers up plenty of cause for intrigue when it comes to how those attributes could be most positively channeled in the NBA.

Okpala’s length, mobility and lateral quickness should all lead to him being an excellent defender, although there may be difficulty for some teams in assessing just how his decision-making stands up on that end considering the defensive strategy employed by Stanford. As The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie explained:

"“How much you buy into his defense depends on how much you question what he was asked to do on the floor for Stanford, whose goal this season was to sell out to stop the 3-point line. But if you think you can re-teach him on that end instinctually, and then continuing to improve his athleticism with the addition of strength, Okpala has the type of loose, fluid athleticism that could lead to a steal down the road.”"

Although polish is required in almost all areas of his game, Okpala has demonstrated the ability to handle, create for teammates, and shoot the three in moderation.

His shooting, in particular, took a major step forward as a sophomore as he more than doubled his attempts while improving from 22.6 percent from deep as a freshman to 36.8 percent this time around.

There’s undoubtedly something of a gamble in picking Okpala due to how raw he remains, but a player who has shown enough to indicate how skilled he could be all across the floor isn’t all that common outside of the lottery either.