Stanford Star Ebuka Okorie Declares For NBA Draft

Stanford may be a basketball school after all. Despite coming up short of a March Madness appearance, the Cardinal still showed plenty of signs of growth in 2025-26, winning 20 games for the second straight season and continuing to look like a team that is nearing the end of a rebuild.

Throughout the season, the Cardinal saw a superstar emerge right in front of their eyes in star freshman, Ebuka Okorie. Ending the year averaging over 23 points per game, and breaking the ACC freshman record for most 30 point games in a season, Okorie took the college basketball world by storm.

But as he continued to impress, he rose rapidly on NBA draft boards. Coming to Stanford as a project type player, showing signs of greatness in high school but needing to develop his game, Okorie turned into a legitimate NBA draft prospect by the end of the year.

And after Stanford's season ended, Okorie was faced with a tough decision to either return to school or head to the NBA. On Thursday, April 9, Okorie made the decision to declare for the NBA Draft, forgoing his final three years of eligibility.

Leading the entire ACC, and ending the season as one of the top freshman in scoring, Okorie averaged 23.2 points, 3.6 rebounds and 3.6 assists and was easily Stanford's top player from start to finish. Projected as a late first round pick, Okorie is the type of player who can be a draft steal for a guard-needy team with playing time to spare.

But Okorie still left the door open to return to school, should the draft process not play out how he expects. Jonathan Givony of Draft Express tweeted that while Okorie "has two feet in the draft," if he chooses to return to school, it will be for Stanford.

Originally a Harvard commit, a strong senior season of high school basketball led to Okorie flip his commitment to a Power Four school, showing just how eager he was to prove his superstar status.

If Okorie gets drafted to the NBA, he will join a long list of Stanford alumni in the league such as Brook Lopez, Maxime Raynaud, Dwight Powell and Ziaire Williams among others.

Okorie could also make it three straight years that a Cardinal is drafted, with Raynaud getting selected last year and Harrison Ingram drafted in 2024. And if Okorie is a first round pick, he would join Williams as the only two first round picks out of Stanford this decade.

Entering the NBA draft is a big decision, but for a guy like Okorie, capitalizing on your opportunity while you are a big name is the best move for the future. Plus, he can always reverse course if he's not seeing the pick potential he's after.

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