Former Kansas wing Ochai Agbaji is headed to Oklahoma City.
Agbaji has agreed to sign with the injury-hit Thunder, ESPN reported Friday, giving Oklahoma City another option on the wing as the roster absorbs multiple blows. The former Jayhawk was waived by the New York Knicks two weeks ago after a quiet preseason in which he appeared in three exhibition games.
His stint with New York came on a non-guaranteed Exhibit 9 contract, the kind of camp invite that offers only limited injury protection. Across those preseason appearances, Agbaji scored three total points, missed all seven of his three-point attempts and logged between eight and 10 minutes per game.
The Thunder’s need was immediate. Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace both went down in Sunday’s win over the Clippers, and both are expected to miss several months, if not the rest of the season. Williams sustained a fractured fibula and dislocated left ankle, while Wallace tore the labrum in his left shoulder.
At 6-foot-5 and 220 pounds, Agbaji brings size and experience to a team looking for depth. He has built a reputation as a strong defender who can also help stretch the floor.
Agbaji most recently split the 2025-26 season between Toronto and Brooklyn after a February trade. In 62 games, including 13 starts, he averaged 5.1 points and 2.3 rebounds in 15.7 minutes per game. The season before in Toronto, he put up 10.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.5 assists while playing 27.2 minutes per game across 64 games, 45 of them starts.
His NBA career numbers now stand at 7.2 points, 2.7 rebounds and 1.1 assists in 263 games, with 108 starts, across stops in Utah, Toronto and Brooklyn.
There was also recent overseas interest, with BeBasketball reporting that Greek club Olympiacos had considered an offer.
Kansas fans know Agbaji best for what he did in Lawrence. As a senior, he averaged 18.8 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.6 assists, earned consensus first team All-America and Big 12 Player of the Year honors, and was named the Final Four’s Most Outstanding Player. Over four seasons with the Jayhawks, the 2022 national champion started 116 of 122 games and averaged 13.5 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.6 assists.
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The problem was the other side of the ledger. Ballard also turned the ball over, and those mistakes helped swing the game against Kansas in a loss that left both quarterback and coach focused on the same theme afterward: missed chances. Leipold and Ballard both acknowledged the errors, and Ballard made clear how much the turnovers bothered him, leaving the Jayhawks with a painful but revealing answer at the position. [Read more 🡒]
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For Kansas, the appeal is in the balance. Stokes gives the Jayhawks a high-end freshman centerpiece, and Kaufman-Renn adds older, established production to a roster that is expected to be one of the leagues most talented. Having two players recognized that highly in the same preseason ranking is a strong sign of the ceiling here, and it also hints at how much pressure opponents will face trying to account for both ends of the Kansas front line. [Read more 🡒]
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 🡒]