KZ Okpala started playing basketball at age 4 and by age 11 he knew he wanted to pursue a career as a professional athlete. It’s no surprise, then, that the 6-foot-8 forward finds himself in contention for a spot on the Sacramento Kings roster ahead of the 2022-23 season.
The California native attended Esperanza High School in Anaheim and joined the basketball team’s starting roster as a sophomore. Okpala averaged 23 points and eight rebounds per game as a junior, leading his high school to a conference title and was named Crestview League Player of the Year.
Okpala showed marked improvement during his senior season, averaging 30 points, 11 rebounds and two blocks per game in his senior year of high school, including a record-breaking 46 points.
Coming out of Esperanza, he led the team to its first California Interscholastic Federation (CIF) Division II Championship, scoring 22 points throughout the game. Because of this, he won another Crestview League Player of the Year award and played in the Ballislife All-American Game.
In 2016, he signed up to play basketball at Stanford University. He averaged 10 points, 3.7 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game in his first season. As a sophomore, he was recognized as the Pac-12 Conference Player of the Week and, after a successful season, decided to forgo his final two years at Stanford and declare himself for the 2019 NBA draft. .
Okpala was initially drafted by the Phoenix Suns but was soon traded to the Miami Heat in 2019. Then in 2020 he was selected by Nigeria to play in the Tokyo Olympics under the current head coach of the Kings, Mike Brown.
He eventually signed with the Sacramento Kings in 2022, where he hopes his lockdown defense and high energy will earn him a spot on the final roster.