Recorded Career Highs of 9.9 Points, 7.2 Rebounds and 1.3 Blocks During 2022-23 Season
The Atlanta Hawks today announced the team has signed forward/center Onyeka Okongwu to a contract extension, which begins with the 2024-25 season. Per team policy, terms of the agreement were not disclosed.
Okongwu has appeared in 178 games (28 starts) throughout his career, tallying 7.9 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.1 blocks in 19.3 minutes (.653 FG%, .741 FT%).
He has 200 total blocked shots in his career, tied for the 22nd-most blocks in the NBA over the last three seasons, with 143 of those coming off the bench. His 143 blocks as a reserve marks the fifth-most rejections by a Hawks reserve in franchise history and the fourth-most by a bench player in the NBA since the 2020-21 season. Okongwu is one of only 11 players to have at least 200 blocked shots in 180-or-fewer games played over the last three seasons.
During the 2022-23 campaign, Okongwu notched career-highs of 9.9 points, 7.2 rebounds and 1.3 blocks, in addition to 1.0 assist in 23.1 minutes (.638 FG%, .308 3FG%, .781 FT%). His .638 FG% marked the second-highest clip in a single season in franchise history and ranked sixth in the NBA during that season.
Okongwu rejected 107 shots, the 10th-most in the league during the 2022-23 campaign, with 71 blocks coming off the bench. His 71 bench rejections led all reserves and marked the most bench blocks in a single season by a Hawks reserve since the 1993-94 season (Andrew Lang: 87).
The USC product recorded his 200th career block against Philadelphia on April 7, 2023, becoming the second-youngest player in franchise history to record over 1,000 career points, 1,000 career rebounds and 200 career blocks (22 years, 117 days). He is the only player from the 2020 NBA Draft to accomplish such a feat.
Drafted by Atlanta with the sixth overall pick of the 2020 NBA Draft, Okongwu has appeared in 29 career playoff contests, averaging 3.8 points and 3.9 rebounds in 14.0 minutes. In a Game 5 win at Boston in the first round of the 2023 Eastern Conference Playoffs, Okongwu recorded both his 100th career playoff point and 100th career playoff rebound, becoming the youngest player in Hawks playoff history to tally 100-or-more points and 100-or-more rebounds (22 years, 135 days).
Named to the First Team All-Pac 12 and to the Pac-12 All-Freshman Team during his lone season at USC (2019-20), Okongwu owns the highest career field goal percentage in Trojan history (.616%, 175-284, min. 5 FGA per game).
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