Former Kansas standout Ochai Agbaji is on the move again, this time landing with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
The 2025 NBA champions are signing the former first-round pick to a standard contract, according to ESPN’s Shams Charania, and the deal will fill Oklahoma City’s final standard roster spot. The Thunder needed another body on the wing as injuries have piled up early in the 2026-27 season.
That need has been especially noticeable on the perimeter, where Oklahoma City has been without Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace. Agbaji gives the coaching staff another experienced option while the roster works through those absences.
The 6-foot-5 wing spent the preseason with the New York Knicks after signing a non-guaranteed deal in September, but he didn’t crack New York’s final roster. That opened the door for another team, and Oklahoma City moved quickly.
Agbaji entered the league as the No. 14 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers after his standout senior season at Kansas. Cleveland later traded him to the Utah Jazz, where he began his pro career before stops with the Toronto Raptors and Brooklyn Nets.
Across four NBA seasons, Agbaji has averaged 7.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists. His strongest statistical run came in 2024-25 with Toronto, when he put up 10.4 points and 3.8 rebounds per game while shooting 39.9% from three. Last season, he played 62 games split between Toronto and Brooklyn and averaged 5.1 points and 2.3 rebounds.
For Oklahoma City, the appeal is straightforward: athleticism, defense and enough shooting to matter. The Thunder are trying to navigate the early part of the season with championship expectations, and Agbaji now gets another chance to carve out a role.
For Kansas fans, it’s another update on one of the program’s most decorated recent players. Agbaji spent four seasons in Lawrence from 2018-22, averaging 13.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists per game.
His senior year was the one that really elevated him. He averaged 18.8 points and 5.1 rebounds, earned consensus first-team All-American honors and was named Big 12 Player of the Year.
And of course, the biggest moment came in 2022, when he helped Kansas win the national championship. Agbaji scored 12 points in the title game against North Carolina and was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player.
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Kansas Blew A 13-0 Lead In A Brutal Home Collapse
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The second half told a much different story. Turnovers and missed chances opened the door for TCU, which steadily chipped away before finishing off a 22-16 comeback win, leaving Kansas to sort through a collapse that felt especially painful on its own field. Ballard finished with 285 passing yards, but the Jayhawks could not turn that production into enough points after halftime. [Read more 🡒]