Born in Lagos, the youngest of five children of a police officer and a schoolteacher, Azubuike lost his father to an undiagnosed illness at ten and reached America through a Basketball Without Borders scholarship. At Kansas he set the NCAA career record by making 74.9 percent of his shots and swept Big 12 Player of the Year and national defensive honors in 2020. The Jazz drafted him 27th that fall, and he spent three injury-marked seasons in Utah, including foot surgery in 2022.
His high school assistant coach and the coach's wife became his legal guardians in Florida. After a two-way stint in Phoenix, Azubuike now plays for Ironi Ness Ziona in Israel.
HOW HE CAME & WENTUtah took him 27th overall in 2020 and sent Tony Bradley and the 38th pick to Detroit for cash the same night. Injuries held him to 68 games in three seasons. The Jazz declined his fourth-year option and he left in free agency.
No photograph of this signature is online yet.
| SEASON | TEAM | G | MPG | PPG | RPG | APG | SPG | BPG | FG% | 3P% | FT% |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2020–21 | UTA | 15 | 3.8 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.3 | .444 | — | .800 |
| 2021–22 | UTA | 17 | 11.5 | 4.7 | 4.2 | 0.0 | 0.1 | 0.6 | .755 | — | .545 |
| 2022–23 | UTA | 36 | 10.0 | 3.5 | 3.3 | 0.3 | 0.2 | 0.4 | .819 | — | .350 |
| JAZZ TOTAL | 3 SEASONS | 68 | 9.0 | 3.2 | 3.0 | 0.2 | 0.1 | 0.4 | .769 | — | .512 |
Season by season, regular season, with this franchise only. More info: Basketball-Reference ↗ · Wikipedia ↗