Emeka Okafor has been medically cleared to return, is working out, and is poised to play in the NBA again, reports Jon Krawczynski of the Associated Press (link via Twitter).
Okafor played nine seasons with three different organizations, last suiting up for the Wizards during the 2012/13 campaign. As a member of the Bobcats, the center was named Rookie of the Year in 2005. Okafor has averaged 12.3 PPG, 9.9 RPG, and 1.7 BPG in his career. The former Connecticut Huskies star started an impressive 584 of the 590 NBA games in which he played. A herniated disc in the neck caused the veteran’s NBA career to be interrupted.The former NCAA champion will turn 35 years old in just under four months.
Krawczynski also tweets that Okafor has already been in touch with some teams.
He’ll go come off the bench for the Spurs like other older, cheap bigs(Lee, Joel Anthony)
He’s 35.
People think (including ex players) that they can just come back and play NBA basketball with a snap of a finger.
They think they can work out for 6 months and play again. That’s not happening, that never works out, it’s always a fruitless pipe dream.
NBA athletes are incredible. If Okafor was 28 and missed four years then maybe.
Not at 35. Sorry.
And the worst part is they feel like they’re important enough to only play for championship contending teams. It kind of drives me nuts, to be honest.
I hope the Celtics were one of those teams to talk to him. Any size will help as long as he can still rebound.
Gary… please… spare me… I’m 37 and I can play ball 3..5 hours str8 with no clock… I’m sure he can play 15mins with ah break every 5mins…NBA is not that tough my dude unless ur ah star player who’s playing 30…40 mins
Teach Jahlil how to rebound and defend