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Jazz Getting Early Look at Josh Okogie in Important New Role
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- Jazz Getting Early Look at Josh Okogie in Important New Role
(Troy Taormina-Imagn Images)
Josh Okogie won't have to wait until training camp to offer the Utah Jazz a glimpse of what they added this summer.
And he'll have a pretty important role while doing it.
Okogie will headline Nigeria's 12-man roster for the upcoming FIBA Basketball World Cup African Qualifiers in Tunisia, ESPN's Colin Udoh reported .
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It will mark Okogie's first appearance for Nigeria since joining the Jazz on a two-year, $12 million deal in July.
And for Utah, the timing offers an interesting opportunity.
Okogie has already built much of his NBA reputation on the defensive end.
The bigger question is whether the offensive strides he showed last season can stick.
Okogie appeared in 78 games for the Houston Rockets last season, averaging 4.5 points, 2.6 rebounds and 0.9 assists in 17.4 minutes per game.
But one number stood out ...
Okogie shot a career-best 38.5% from 3-point range. That's worth watching when he takes the floor for Nigeria.
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Okogie hasn't been asked to carry much of a scoring load during his NBA career, but his ability to maintain that improvement from the perimeter could make him a much easier player for the Jazz to keep on the floor.
And his last run with Nigeria showed what he can do with a larger offensive role.
Okogie averaged a team-high 14.5 points, four rebounds and four assists across four games at the 2025 AfroBasket, including a 33-point performance in an 87-66 win over Tunisia.
That's quite a jump from the 4.5 points per game he averaged for Houston.
Of course, what Nigeria asks Okogie to do won't necessarily resemble his eventual role with the Jazz.
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But the opportunity should give Utah an early look at its new guard in a competitive setting while asking him to handle more offensive responsibility than he did last season.
He'll return to a much different-looking Nigerian team.
Okogie gives D'Tigers their first current NBA player of this World Cup qualifying campaign and headlines a reworked roster that also includes Chimezie Metu , Chima Moneke and former Jazz first-round pick Udoka Azubuike .
There are even more Utah connections on the sideline.
Nigeria is coached by former Jazz associate general manager David Fizdale, who took over D'Tigers in May and led the team to a 3-0 record during the July qualifying window.
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Nigeria will face Cameroon on Aug. 27, South Sudan on Aug. 28 and Cape Verde on Aug. 30 as it begins the second round of qualifying.
For Okogie, those games carry much more weight than an NBA preseason tuneup.
Nigeria is attempting to secure one of Africa's five spots in the 2027 World Cup, and Okogie returns after leading the team in scoring at AfroBasket last year.
For the Jazz, they'll also provide three early opportunities to see what their new guard looks like before he ever steps onto the floor for them.
The defense and energy have been staples of Okogie's game.
The shooting is what could make things particularly interesting.
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If Okogie can sustain the career-best 38.5% he shot from deep last season, Utah may have found a useful two-way rotation option on a two-year, $12 million deal.
And Jazz fans won't have to wait until training camp to get their first look.
