[From the Cutting Room Floor] Inside KZ Okpala's Make-Or-Break Season: 'It's Not a Muthaf----n Game'
This story was supposed to be published in December, then KZ Okpala got injured and, later, traded.
Note: This story is severely outdated. It’s about KZ Okpala, who was traded on Wednesday from the Miami Heat to the Oklahoma City Thunder. I wrote it in December before he was sidelined with a right wrist injury, and I had been waiting to publish it when he returned to the Heat. Well, he never got back on the court and no longer plays for the Heat. I tweeted about this story and many of you responded that you'd like to read it. I debated whether or not I should publish it because it’s not something I would do at the websites or newspapers where I previously worked. Stories get thrown out all the time because of extenuating circumstances. But I think this captures all that was at stake for Okpala in Miami, and the unfortunate turn his season took that led to him getting traded. So here’s the story.
Getting screamed at by P.J. Tucker isn’t for everybody, but it didn’t seem to faze KZ Okpala.
During the third quarter of an early December game against the Milwaukee Bucks, Okpala went out of his way to help his Miami Heat teammate Tucker double Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo in the post. Once Okpala scurried over, Antetokounmpo pounced. He flung a pass out to guard Grayson Allen in the corner, who drained a wide-open three. As the ball dropped through the net, Tucker turned to Okpala and screamed “Stay home!”
“I’m totally cool with that. That’s what I signed up for,” Okpala said a few days later about Tucker’s outburst. “I’m built different.”
As the Heat have spent most of the season navigating several injuries to their frontcourt, they hope Okpala is built for this opportunity to deliver on the promise they saw when they traded three future second-round picks to acquire him during the 2019 draft.
With Bam Adebayo sidelined for another few weeks with a right thumb injury, Markieff Morris out of commission with whiplash and Dewayne Dedmon recently spraining his left knee, more responsibility than ever has been thrust on the third-year forward's spindly shoulders. How Okpala performs over these next few weeks will determine whether he has a role in the Heat's future.
Earlier this month against the Bucks, it was clear Tucker’s message was received. As the game went on, Okpala was more disciplined and played the entire fourth quarter of Miami’s nine-point win at FTX Arena.
It was an encouraging step after Okpala failed to make a significant impact in his first two seasons. In 42 appearances for the Heat, he averaged just 2.4 points on 38.6% shooting, 1.7 rebounds and 0.5 assists in 11.3 minutes per game.
Heading into this, his final season of his rookie contract, it was clear Okpala’s NBA future hinged on him making a leap.
He spent just two weeks home in Orange County before embarking on a summer of work with the Heat’s Summer League team and Nigeria’s Olympic national team alongside Heat teammate Gabe Vincent.
“I’ve seen a lot of work he puts in,” said Vincent, who also played with Okpala in the G League at times last season. “He has more to give. I know he does.”
“It’s not a muthafuckin game. Hoop is serious. If it’s not like that, I don’t wanna be a part of it.”
It’s fair to call Okpala a late bloomer. The youngest of four, he didn’t have his growth spurt until late in high school, when he sprouted from 5-foot-10 to his current stature of 6-foot-8.
“He had been waiting for that growth spurt,” his mother Mary Okpala said in a phone interview, explaining that all of her children stand taller than 6 feet. “He was like, ‘When is this gonna come?’”
After all, Okpala has been hooked on basketball since he was 4. His parents recall when they took their son to play in a youth league that year, but young Chikezie (he now goes by KZ) refused to participate when he saw that the kids were carrying the ball without dribbling and fouls weren’t being called.
“We thought he was joking,” Mary Okpala said. “But, yes, he didn’t want to play at that youth level because, according to him, they were letting them just play for fun instead of taking it seriously.” That was his attitude every time he stepped on a court.
During pick-up games before school or at local Brea Sports Park, Okpala used to get into shouting matches when teammates wouldn’t make the right play, and he often refused to play with kids he knew didn’t care as much as he did. Car rides home after a loss were quiet.
“It’s not a muthafuckin game,” Okpala said, veering from his typically subdued public persona during an interview outside the Heat locker room. “Hoop is serious. If it’s not like that, I don’t wanna be a part of it.”
Okpala started as a point guard at Anaheim’s Esperanza High School where, as a senior, he led the team to its first Division II championship in 2017. He committed to Stanford as a four-star recruit and mostly played on the perimeter before declaring for the draft after two seasons.
During a draft workout in 2019, Okpala outplayed the other prospects on the court. Watching was Heat president Pat Riley, who after the workout approached Okpala and told him he was the best player he saw that afternoon. Okpala bashfully accepted the compliment. Riley scratched his chin. He wanted Okpala to own it.
Still, Riley could see Okpala was a fit for his organization. So in June when Okpala was on the board and the Phoenix Suns were picking at No. 32, Riley sent an unheard-of three future second-round picks to move up and take him.
“He feels blessed he’s in Miami,” Mary Okpala said. “He knows he’s wanted.”
Despite the lack of playing time during his first two NBA seasons, Okpala found solace in Miami’s demanding strength and conditioning program and game-like scrimmages.
As teammates such as Vincent, Caleb Martin and Max Strus got playing time earlier this season, coaches told Okpala to be patient. His time would come.
Then 21 games into the season, Adebayo tore a ligament in his right thumb during a Nov. 29 loss to the Denver Nuggets. Since then, Okpala has been counted on more regularly. He’s played in 12 of Miami’s last 14 games and is averaging career-highs in points (3.6), rebounds (2.1) and assists (0.7).1 He has logged nearly all of his minutes at either power forward or center despite never playing those positions before getting to the NBA.
His move in position is both a consequence of Miami’s injuries and the NBA trending toward more skilled bigs.
The Heat are working on Okpala’s defensive positioning, fundamentals and finishing at the basket. He’s being schooled by assistant coach Malik Allen, who played power forward in the NBA for 10 years, and Udonis Haslem, who has helped him reign in his energy and wide-ranging skillset.
“When you got a guy like KZ who can do so many things, it’s hard to tap into what your role really is,” Haslem said. “He’s starting to find out what his actual role is and how he can help us the most.”
Added Spoelstra: “He’s been fully immersed in the Miami Heat player development program, and he’s been patient”
There are few full-length practices over the course of an NBA season, so Okpala has mostly been learning on the fly. And with the Heat vying for playoff position in an Eastern Conference where there are five teams within 3.5 games of first place2, they need Okpala to fast-track the process. That’s why you get Tucker yelling at Okpala in front of 20,000 fans.
“Anybody can get mad at me, and I don’t give a damn because that’s how it is,” Okpala said. “[Jimmy Butler] gets mad at me, [Tucker] yells at me. If I was in his position, I would be the same exact way.”
Okpala’s history of playing on the ball is helpful within the Heat’s read-and-react offense that asks its bigs to facilitate from the low block or with dribble handoffs on the perimeter. But Okpala has also had to learn the big man basics from scratch — setting screens, rolling to the basket and going up with the ball with strength and quickness.
“I'm used to being the one creating and passing it and dumping it off to the bigs,” Okpala said. “But now I’m the big, catching it on the low block and having those quick finishes.”
During a Dec. 21 win over the Indiana Pacers, Okpala scored a season-high 16 points. His final three field goals all came at the basket, including a reverse dunk he made after slipping a screen, catching a pass from Strus and reaching his long arm over 6-foot-7 forward Oshae Brissett. As he turned to get back on defense, Okpala released a roar.
This time, Okpala was doing the screaming.
“We all know the ability that he has. Everybody is just pouring into KZ,” Haslem said. “Now we’re seeing KZ pour it out.”
Prior to being sidelined with a right wrist sprain.
As of late December.