Jahlil Okafor Drops 21 in Bubble Debut

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Jahlil Okafor, who’s seen his once-promising career reduced to a punchline, dropped 21 points for the Pelicans in his bubble debut. Okafor, the No. 3 pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, was available for earlier games but hadn’t played. With the Pelicans eliminated and all their big guns sitting — Zion Williamson, Brandon Ingram, Jrue Holiday, JJ Redick — he got his chance and made the most of it.

Okafor dropped 21 points in a losing effort off the bench, looking spry, slimmed down and solid with the ball.

The former Duke standout poured in 16 points in his first 13 minutes and finished with a healthy 9-for-11 shooting performance. He led the Pels in scoring in 26 minutes. New Orleans lost to Sacramento 112-106. They have one more game to play and you can expect to see a lot of the big guy. New Orleans plays Orlando on Thursday at 9pm ET.

For the season, he’s averaging 8.1 points per game. The breakout performance was his third 20-point outing of the season. He had 25 on January 13th and 26 back on October 31st.

As a rookie, Jahlil Okafor averaged 17+ points per game but that was his best year. He put up 11.8 per game in his second season but hasn’t broken double-digits for a season since. The Pelicans are his third team in five years.

CATEGORY: NBA