Even before his rapid ascent from three-star recruit to Detroit Pistons first-round pick, Ebuka Okorie was on Trajan Langdon’s radar.
Okorie transferred to Brewster Academy, a boarding school and basketball powerhouse in New Hampshire, for his senior year of high school before becoming a one-and-done standout at Stanford last season at just 18 years old. Langdon’s son, Tayden, also attended Brewster during the last two years.
By the end of Okorie’s freshman season, he had become a priority for the Pistons front office. They traded up to acquire the 6-foot-1 guard with the No. 17 overall pick in Tuesday’s draft.
Jason Smith, who was Brewster’s head coach for 26 years before accepting the same position at Masters Academy International in March, gave Langdon an inside track on Okorie’s work ethic and what enabled him to become one of college basketball’s most deadly scorers.
“It was funny because one day in the gym this spring, I jokingly told Tayden, ‘Your dad’s called me a couple times asking about Ebuka,’ and he laughed,” Smith told the Free Press. “He said, ‘Yeah, he’s called me a couple times, as well.’”
Okorie averaged 23.2 points per game – tied for sixth in the nation – in his lone season at Stanford, while shooting 46.5% from the field. He’s viewed as one of the quickest players in this draft class, as well as one of its best ballhandlers. Defenders couldn’t keep him out of the paint.
The Pistons are eager to pair him with Cade Cunningham and believe he can transform their halfcourt offense. Okorie’s former coaches aren’t surprised he developed into a deadly scorer, but they didn’t expect it to happen so soon. Neither did Langdon.
“Ebuka was a player that we’d been tracking all season,” Langdon said at Okorie’s introductory press conference Thursday. “He was the target for us in this process. I think very few people in the country knew about him as the college season began. I give our scouting staff and our group a lot of credit because we were on him early and they started mentioning his name to me early on.
“I have known him for a little bit, so I knew the player a little bit, but didn’t know he was going to explode on the scene. We didn’t know that, either.”
Okorie was born and raised in Nashua, New Hampshire, to parents who immigrated from Nigeria. Smith said he first met Okorie at a basketball camp around 2019, when he was in seventh grade and, in Smith’s estimation, not even 5 feet tall. Okorie’s father, Charles, told Smith his son wanted to play for him at Brewster one day.
After starring at Cushing Academy in Boston for three years, he transferred to Brewster with Division I interest. Okorie initially committed to Harvard, his parents’ alma mater, but later flipped to Stanford when it became clear he had Power Five talent.
But even then, he didn’t attract the level of attention as some of his teammates − such as Killyan Toure, a four-star who just completed his freshman season at Iowa State. Smith said they typically have five or more players with double-figure scoring numbers. He compared Okorie’s journey to one of his former players, a Cleveland Cavaliers superstar.
“Donovan Mitchell played for me his junior and senior year of high school and never averaged more than 12 points per game in high school,” Smith said. “Never has averaged less than 20 points per game in the NBA in his career. I just knew that Ebuka was very focused on just getting better every single day. He wasn’t focused on highlights, he didn’t care about his social media presence. It was more focused on his ultimate goal, which is to be successful in the NBA.”
Stanford head coach Kyle Smith realized early in the summer that Okorie’s learning curve was quicker than initially expected. He still couldn’t predict the extent that he would acclimate to the college game.
Okorie scored 26 and 29 points in his first two college games and at least 17 in his first seven. He exploded for 36 points and nine assists in a January game against North Carolina and fourth overall pick Caleb Wilson. In their final game of the season, an overtime loss to West Virginia in the CBC Tournament, he scored 34 and hit 12 of 17 shots against a top-20 defense.
His lowkey demeanor and business-like approach to basketball, Kyle Smith said, could be a reason why he flew under the radar in a strong 2025 high school class.
“Humble warrior,” Smith said. “He’s from New Hampshire. I wouldn’t say quiet, he’s reserved, but he’s a killer. And the way he was raised, he needs permission, I guess. He’s not going to step on anyone’s toes. He’s going to do what the coach says. He’s very coachable.
“The second I opened the door, he just kept going and I just kept creating more opportunities for him to get better.”
Smith believes Okorie is a great fit with a big, physical Pistons team that won 60 games and boasted the league’s No. 2 defense last season. His speed will contrast with Cunningham’s more methodical approach. A guard who didn’t need a ball screen to get open in college now has NBA-caliber big men to set screens and elite shooters on the wing to open lanes.
“It’s like sending Lamar Jackson to go play behind a really good offensive line,” Kyle Smith said.
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Contact Omari Sankofa II at osankofa@freepress.com. Follow him on X and/or Bluesky.
This article originally appeared on Detroit Free Press: How Ebuka Okorie made rapid rise from 3-star recruit to NBA draft pick
Reporting by Omari Sankofa II, Detroit Free Press / Detroit Free Press
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
By Omari Sankofa II, Detroit Free Press | USA TODAY Network
