Stanford Basketball: 2019 NBA draft profile of Cardinal forward KZ Okpala

Athletic sophomore KZ Okpala is heading to the NBA Draft after two seasons at Stanford Basketball. Here is a look at what the young forward has to offer.

The problems a lot of west coast teams that aren’t national powers have are getting their teams some publicity and getting them on the radar of not only college pundits but pro scouts, mainly because the games are on so late for east coast people. So, a lot of people may not have a good idea of who some of the prospects from west coast teams are that are in the NBA draft.

One such prospect played last season at Stanford and has decided to forego the remainder of his collegiate eligibility in hopes of beginning a career in the NBA, sophomore forward KZ Okpala. In his two years in Palo Alto, the 6-9 forward started all but two games and really took a leap this past season after his freshman year.

As a freshman, the forward netted 10 points per game with just 3.7 rebounds, shooting just 39% from the field and making just seven three-pointers on the year. In his second year, his point production jumped up to 16.8 points and on the glass, he doubled the number of boards he grabbed with just a 4.2 minute per game increase, his 5.7 per game was third on the team. The slender big man really worked on his shooting, improving his field-goal percentage from 39% to over 46% last season and while the three-point shot isn’t a big part of his game, last year he made more (32) than he shot in his first season (31) and he made a respectable 36.8% of them.

Okpala should hear his name called, but when is a question. Here is a look at what he can offer an NBA team.