Atlanta Hawks: Early NBA comparisons for Onyeka Okongwu

When the Atlanta Hawks drafted Onyeka Okongwu with the sixth pick in the 2020 NBA draft, it appeared that they were taking a risk. While Okongwu was the second-best big man in the draft behind James Wiseman, there were question marks over him.

For one, how would he fit into today’s NBA given that he only took four shots from beyond the 3-point line during his time with USC. On top of that, he plays the center position while only standing 6’8″ so did not bring size to dominate inside.

What he was during his time in college was a tremendous exponent of the pick and roll. As the roll man, he was very hard to stop on his way to the hoop. In the brief time that he has played with the Hawks, he has not displayed the same ability as yet.

The Atlanta Hawks need to spend some time unlocking Onyeka Okongwu’s potential.

It is safe to say that the Hawks have not overused Okongwu. In fact, he was not available for the first ten games and then missed a couple more through injury. Okongwu has only played in eight games for the season.

On top of that, Okongwu has not logged more than 16 minutes in any of the games that he has played, including the one that he started when Clint Capela was out with an injured hand. Okongwu has averaged 3.4 points, 3.0 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, 0.5 assists, and 0.5 steals in 11.1 minutes per game. He is shooting the ball at 52.6 percent from the field.

While these numbers are not earth-shattering, Okongwu has shown that he has the ability to make it in the NBA, he is just going to need more seasoning. There have been plenty of examples of centers starting out slowly and making it in the league. Here we compare Okongwu’s start with several prominent centers in the league today.

Note, all number comparisons are per-36 via basketball reference