Despite an uptick in playing time compared to his sophomore season, Okongwu's production remained relatively stable. He landed with season averages of 10.2 points to go with 6.8 rebounds and 1.1 blocks, both of which were slightly down from his 2022-23 numbers. One of the more frustrating fantasy assets, Okongwu could once again open the season playing as the backup center behind Clint Capela. While rumors continue to swirl regarding Capela's playing future, managers could be faced with another season of missed opportunities. Barring a trade, managers may want to exercise caution when it comes to drafting Okongwu, given the Hawks' refusal to change direction. As long as Capela is in town, Okongwu should be targeted in the seventh or eighth rounds of drafts. Read Past Outlooks
$Signed a four-year, $61.98 million contract extension with the Hawks in October of 2023.
Personal Bio/PreCareer Summary
Okongwu was born Dec. 11, 2000 in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of Nigerian parents Kate and Mike Okongwu. The 6-foot-9 forward attended Chino Hills High School in Chino Hills, California and started on the varsity basketball team as a freshman. Also as a freshman, he was teammates with the three Ball brothers -- Lonzo, LiAngelo and LaMelo. That season, the team secured a 35-0 record and won the California Interscholastic Federation Open Division State Title. Okongwu shared MaxPreps National Freshman of the Year honors with LaMelo Ball. Later, as a junior, Okongwu earned the California Mr. Basketball title after averaging 28 points, 14 rebounds and four blocks per game. He repeated the next season, becoming just the fifth player ever to do so. In college, Okongwu played one season at USC, earning First-team All-Pac-12 honors before declaring for the 2020 NBA Draft. He wears jersey No. 21 to honor his late brother. It didn't take long for Okongwu to establish himself as one of USC's best players on both ends of the floor, and the consensus top-30 recruit went on to take home 2019-20 first-team All-Pac-12 honors. He began his collegiate career with back-to-back 20-point games against Florida A&M and Portland. Shortly thereafter, he set what would end up has his college career high of 33 points Nov. 19 against Pepperdine. Okongwu ended up with 11 double-doubles in his first and only season with the Trojans, posting a career-best 14 rebounds on two separate occasions. At the end of the year, he led the Pac-12 in virtually every shooting percentage metric: field-goal percentage, effective field-goal percentage and true shooting percentage, in addition to PER. He was also second in the conference in offensive rebounds and seventh in total rebounds. The Trojans ended the season on a three-game winning streak and were set to compete for a NCAA Tournament bid via the Pac-12 tournament, but both events were ultimately canceled due to the coronavirus pandemic.
Out at least four weeks
CAtlanta Hawks
Toe
April 11, 2024
Okongwu underwent a non-surgical procedure Tuesday to address ongoing inflammation in his left big toe and will be re-evaluated in approximately four weeks, Lauren L. Williams of The Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.
ANALYSIS Okongwu hasn't played since March 21 due to the left big toe injury. Unless the Hawks can come out of the Play-In and go on a miraculous playoff run, the 22-year-old big man has essentially been shut down for the rest of the season. Okongwu will end the regular season with averages of 10.2 points, 6.8 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.1 blocks in 25.5 minutes across 55 appearances, including eight starts.
2023 NBA Per Game Split Stats - Starting/Off Bench
Loading Split Stats...
2023 NBA Per Game Split Stats - Days Rest
Loading Split Stats...
2023 NBA Per Game Split Stats - Vs Opp
Loading Split Stats...
2023 NBA Per Game Split Stats - By Result
Loading Split Stats...
Advanced Stats
Loading Advanced Stats...
2023
2022
2021
2020
Stat Review
How does Onyeka Okongwu compare to other players?
This section compares his stats with all players from the previous three seasons (minimum 200 minutes played)*. The bar represents the player's percentile rank. For example, if the bar is halfway across, then the player falls into the 50th percentile for that stat and it would be considered average.
True Shooting %
An advanced statistic that measures a player's efficiency at shooting the ball that takes field goal percentage, free throw percentage, and three point percentage into account.
Effective Field Goal %
A statistic that adjusts field goal percentage to account for the fact that three-point field goals count for three points while field goals only count for two points.
3-Point Attempt Rate
Percentage of field goal attempts from three point range.
Free Throw Rate
Number of free throw attempts per field goal attempt.
Offensive Rebound %
An estimate of the percentage of available offensive rebounds a player grabbed while they were on the floor.
Defensive Rebound %
An estimate of the percentage of available defensive rebounds a player grabbed while they were on the floor.
Total Rebound %
An estimate of the percentage of available rebounds a player grabbed while they were on the floor.
Assist %
An estimate of the percentage of teammate field goals a player assisted while they were on the floor.
Steal %
An estimate of the percentage of opponent possessions that end with a steal by the player while they were on the floor.
Block %
An estimate of the percentage of opponent two-point field goal attempts blocked by the player while they were on the floor.
Turnover %
An estimate of turnovers committed per 100 plays.
Usage %
An estimate of the percentage of team plays used by a player while they were on the floor.
Fantasy Points Per Game
NBA Fantasy Points Per Game.
Fantasy Points Per Minute
NBA Fantasy Points Per Minute.
True Shooting %
67.4%
Effective Field Goal %
64.2%
3-Point Attempt Rate
18.9%
Free Throw Rate
31.8%
Offensive Rebound %
10.8%
Defensive Rebound %
18.6%
Total Rebound %
14.6%
Assist %
7.2%
Steal %
0.8%
Block %
3.8%
Turnover %
8.3%
Usage %
0.0%
Fantasy Points Per Game
24.3
Fantasy Points Per Minute
1.0
Loading Player Stat Review...
Loading Player Stat Review...
Loading Player Stat Review...
Total
Per Game
Per 36
NBA Historical Fantasy Stats
How are these ratings calculated?
Our historical fantasy ratings are standard scores calculated using 8-Category settings with 12 teams and 13 players per team.
Loading Historical Fantasy Stats...
NBA Per Game Historical Fantasy Stats
Loading Per Game Historical Fantasy Stats...
NBA Per 36 Historical Fantasy Stats
Loading Per 36 Historical Fantasy Stats...
Historical ADP
Loading Historical ADP...
Hawks Depth Chart
Our full team depth charts are reserved for RotoWire subscribers.
Average Fantasy Points are determined when Onyeka Okongwu was active vs. non-active during the season. Click here to view average fantasy points for a different time period.
Minutes
FanDuel
DraftKings
Yahoo
FantasyDraft
Head2Head
Sorare
Loading Average Minutes...
Loading FanDuel Points...
Loading DraftKings Points...
Loading Yahoo Points...
Loading Head2Head Points...
Loading Sorare Points...
Recent RotoWire Articles Featuring Onyeka Okongwu See More
Twelve experts test their fantasy basketball rankings in this head-to-head points league mock draft. Who made the best picks for their NBA Fantasy team?
Win your Yahoo league with RotoWire's first 2024 Fantasy Basketball Points League Mock Draft. Discover how fantasy experts are drafting early in the process.
Explore these complete 2024 fantasy basketball mock draft results by experts to help you get a head start in dominating your 9-category head-to-head league.
Past Fantasy Outlooks
2023
2022
2021
2020
Okongwu ended as the 76th-ranked player in just his second season in the NBA, despite the fact he played only 23.1 minutes per night. In that time, he averaged 9.9 points to go with 7.2 rebounds, 0.7 steals and 1.4 blocks, shooting an impressive 64.0 percent from the field. Clint Capela remains in Atlanta and, at this point, is likely to be the starting center once again. While this does put a cap on what Okongwu might be able to do, he has demonstrated the ability to be a must-roster player, even in limited minutes. It's hard to imagine he plays fewer minutes than he did during his sophomore season, placing his projected ADP inside the top 100. Should the Hawks opt to move on from Capela at some point, Okongwu's value could climb into the middle rounds. He scored in double digits during 15 of the final 17 games last season, totaling 30 blocks over that span as well. An improved offensive repertoire could certainly play in his favor, given that Capela is by no means a versatile scorer. Whether it is this coming season or not, Okongwu is definitely a player to hedge your bets on as we move forward.
The to-be third-year center missed the start of last season due to right shoulder surgery to repair a torn labrum. Okongwu didn't make his season debut until mid-December and expectedly functioned as the backup center to Clint Capela. However, the USC product also stole some minutes from the veteran. Okongwu ended up seeing 20.7 minutes per game, averaging 8.2 points, 5.9 rebounds, 1.1 assists and 1.9 combined blocks-plus-steals. He also shot an impressive 69.0 percent from the field and was fantastic on the offensive glass (4.1 ORB per 36 minutes). It's easy to forget Okongwu was the sixth overall pick in 2020 since he's been coming off the bench and has played only 98 total games, but the upside is there, and the Hawks are starting to feel more confident allotting him time over Capela. Despite playing hardly 20 minutes per night, Okongwu managed to rank 146th in per-game fantasy production, which made him viable as a streaming option in standard leagues given that center is a position of scarcity. Capela still figures to start this season, so Okongwu remains a late-round flier for standard leagues. However, Okongu's early returns have been encouraging and certainly warrant strong interest for fantasy managers in dyntasy/keeper leagues.
Okongwu, the sixth overall pick in 2020, was a backup to Clint Capela as a rookie. He saw 12.0 minutes per game and averaged 4.6 points and 3.3 rebounds while shooting 64.4 percent from the field. He showed good upside as a defender, posting 2.0 blocks and 1.4 steals per 36 minutes. Okongwu won't be available to start the 2021-22 season. He underwent surgery to repair a torn labrum in his right shoulder and is expected to be out until late January. In the meantime, Gorgui Dieng and John Collins should see extra center minutes. Once Okongwu returns, he's still stuck behind Capela, so he has little upside this season. There's still reason to hang onto Okongwu in dynasty leagues, but it won't pay off until he's in a better situation.
The big man had a strong freshman season at USC, where he appeared in 28 contests and averaged 16.2 points, 8.6 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 1.2 steals and 2.7 blocks. With both Clint Capela and John Collins currently in place, the Hawks will likely bring Okongwu off the bench this season. Fantasy-wise, he projects to provide strong field goal percentage, rebounds and blocks numbers down the road. For this season, however, Okongwu will likely only be worth a flier in deeper leagues.
More Fantasy News
Remains out Wednesday
CAtlanta Hawks
Toe
April 10, 2024
Okongwu (toe) is listed as out for Wednesday's game against the Hornets.
ANALYSIS Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Out at least one more week
CAtlanta Hawks
Toe
April 1, 2024
The Hawks announced Monday that Okongwu (toe) will be re-evaluated in 7-to-10 days.
ANALYSIS Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
ANALYSIS Subscribe now to instantly reveal our take on this news.
Latest Fantasy Rumors
Atlanta not keen on losing him
CAtlanta Hawks
July 9, 2024
The Hawks were not interested in including Okongwu in a potential trade with the Pelicans, according to William Guillory of The Athletic.
ANALYSIS The Pelicans and Hawks made a trade earlier in the offseason, as Dejounte Murray moved from Atlanta to New Orleans, but the Hawks always kept Okongwu off the table. The Hawks know Okongwu is their long-term answer at center, which is why they declined to draft Alex Sarr with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft.