Free agent center Jahlil Okafor, the No. 3 overall pick of the 2015 draft, has officially signed with Casademont Zaragoza of Spain’s Liga ACB, the team announced (via Twitter). According to Eurohoops.net, Okafor inked a one-year contract.
Olga Lorent of Onda Regional was the first to report that Zaragoza was trying to close a deal with Okafor.
A college star at Duke who helped lead the Blue Devils to the NCAA Championship in 2014/15, Okafor was drafted by the 76ers, spending his first two-plus seasons with the club. The 27-year-old bounced around the NBA for the next handful of seasons, playing for the Nets, Pelicans and Pistons from 2017-21.
Known as a strong post scorer who is limited defensively, Okafor’s last season in the league came back in 2020/21 with Detroit. In six NBA seasons, he holds career averages of 10.4 points and 4.7 rebounds in 247 regular season games (116 starts, 19.5 minutes).
Okafor signed a training camp deal with Atlanta ahead of ’21/22, but was released before the season started. He wound up playing for the Zhejiang Lions in China. Last season, the veteran big man played for the Mexico City Capitanes of the NBA G League, averaging 19.2 points and 7.5 rebounds in 16 games (27.0 minutes).
This will be the first European stint for Okafor, who suited up for Team Nigeria during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Zaragoza finished 12-22 during the ’22/23 regular season, 13th out of 18 Liga ACB teams.
It’s kind of amazing how terrible “The Process” was outside of Embiid and the Sixers wonder why the team can’t get over the top. They just got lucky Embiid is as good as he is.
What is even more astonishing is the ignorance that folks display so freely when trying to put down “The Process”, right?
please enlighten us with how calling the Process a failure is “ignorant.”
If he plays with passion and decides to play defense he can do very well because he is good as a scorer. Competition in Europe is much stronger than China and any american league not named NBA. Also he comes with a “letter of recomendation”: his new spanish team’s president is Marc Gasol, if he thought Okafor is not worth an investment he would have vetoed it
Jahlil was essentially “legislated” out of the league. He is legitimately one of the best scorer’s in the post to come around in a while. He put up numbers as a rookie. Once Embiid was drafted it was a wrap. He got the 2nd year (Embiid injured), and did numbers, but once Embiid hit the floor it was over. He changed his diet. Got into the best shape of his life. Cannot put him on the floor defensively. Absolutely toast! Like most traditional big men. Jahlil didn’t help himself with a couple of fights, and some high-speed driving, but when the game changed, Jahlil was done.
Okafor, Noel, MCW, hinkie, brett brown, h Thompson, Saric and Fulks paid for your sins. Ish Smith and R Covington say thanks. Process failed more than it did anything else. Did I miss anyone. Sims?
They traded Mikal Bridges, the hometown kid.