The Philadelphia 76ers already had 7-footers Nerlens Noel and Joel Embiid on their roster.
They liked Jahlil Okafor enough to take him anyways.
Okafor was selected by Philadelphia with the third pick in the 2015 NBA draft, beginning the next chapter for the big man who has dominated at every level of his career thus far. Okafor followed two other freshmen off the board—Kentucky's Karl-Anthony Towns and Ohio State's D'Angelo Russell.
The Chicago native claimed ACC Rookie of the Year and ACC Player of the Year honors in his first and only season in Durham, averaging 17.3 points and 8.5 rebounds per game. Okafor controlled the low block for head coach Mike Krzyzewski, using his 6-foot-11 frame and array of footwork to pass out of double-teams to open shooters and punishing opponents who tried to cover him one-on-one with a flurry of post moves and emphatic finishes.
Just three days removed from cutting down the nets with his teammates in Indianapolis after winning the national championship, Okafor declared for the NBA draft. The same day, Towns announced he too would join the professional ranks, igniting more than two months of speculation surrounding who would go first overall.
Towns wound up walking across the stage first, selected by the Minnesota Timberwolves. The Los Angeles Lakers—who worked out Okafor twice—then opted for Russell with the No. 2 pick.
Okafor joins fellow Windy City product Jabari Parker as the second Blue Devil to join NBA commissioner Adam Silver on the stage as a top-five pick in as many years.
The big man will head to Philadelphia to help begin the process of turning around a 76ers team that finished 18-64 in 2014-15.
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