We are officially into the doldrums of the offseason – Summer League is behind us, free agency is all but over, and we still have months until we first see our new team take the floor. It is in these doldrums that one begins to ponder the real questions of the soul: am I leading my life correctly? should I be spending all this time on basketball? is Mario Hezonja worth all the hype given to his free agency decision? And, most importantly, who will be the Jazz’s backup shooting guard?
It seems to me
that there are four options for the two backup wing positions: Brice Sensabaugh, Svi Mykhailiuk, John Konchar, and the titular Josh Okogie. All four deserve to play minutes somewhere – each have started legitimate amounts of games in their careers, and two may be out of the rotation next year.
Choosing which of these four worthy candidates have my vote to earn playing time is already difficult, and is made even more difficult due to the fact that I am no expert on the newest Jazzman of the group, Josh Okogie. Sure, I have a passing knowledge of the guy – I follow the NBA, he’s made his way around the block a few times, so I generally understand his game. He defends, he’s kinda stocky, he got that one block on James Harden’s step back in his rookie year…he’s Josh Okogie! But that cursory, surface-level understanding won’t cut it if I am to make the hugely important decision of who should be Darryn Peterson’s backup (and then complain when the Jazz coaching staff makes a different choice than me). I need to become a Josh Okogie scholar.
I took this self-assigned responsibility seriously – I would not go halfway for one of the newest Jazzmen. So, to shore up the holes in my Okogie expertise, I took to NBA.com’s video database to watch every Josh Okogie field goal, assist, steal, and block from the 2025-2026 season. If Josh Okogie did just about anything with the ball last year, I watched it. I won’t pretend this was the most interesting exercise I’ve ever (for reasons that will be explained later), so instead of everyone else having to go through the same study process, I will report on what I learned, his strengths and weaknesses, and his fit on the Jazz. Hopefully, no one will have any remaining Josh Okogie questions after this article.
The Basics
Name: Josh Okogie
Height: 6’4
Weight: 213 pounds
Wingspan: 7’0
2025-2026 Team: Houston Rockets
Stats: 78 GP, 32 GS, 17.4 MPG, 4.5 PPG, 2.6 RPG, 0.9 APG, 0.8 SPG, 0.2 BPG, 43/38/60
Offense
Josh Okogie is a very simple offensive player, for better and for worse (at the very least, it made for a dull viewing experience). While you can rest assured that he will not hijack the offense with complicated, on-ball hijinks, sometimes the simple, barebones nature of his offensive game leaves a bit to be desired. He has figured out his role perfectly during his 8 years in the NBA, and will not dare stray from it.
The majority of Okogie’s shot attempts this past season came from behind the arc (54.8% of his attempts, to be exact), and nearly all of them looked exactly the same. He never shot from off the dribble (100% of his three pointers this past season were assisted), he rarely shot off of movement, and he mainly shot from the corners. His three point percentages have steadily ticked up over his career, peaking this season at 38.5%, but I don’t think he’s gotten more versatile with his shot; he needs to be set, and he needs to be facing minimal pressure. After having watched 161 of his three point attempts in very quick succession, I think I uncovered the reason for this – Okogie’s form simply isn’t built for anything beyond a catch-and-shoot attempt. He doesn’t get much elevation on his shot, and it isn’t particularly quick, which when combined with the fact that he’s only 6’4, creates a player who needs a separation from a defender to get his shot off cleanly. Additionally, his footwork behind the arc isn’t always the cleanest, making movement off-ball and around screens disadvantageous to his style of jump shot. He can make these shots while open (see the video below for some examples), but his 38% from three isn’t providing the same spacing that Anfernee Simon’s 38% is.
An interesting statistical tidbit – while Okogie attempted most of three pointers from the corners (67% of his attempts came from both corners combined), they were far from his most efficient spot on the court – he drained around 30% from those zones, and 52% from the two wings. Now, I understand that, all things considered, this is a pretty small sample size to determine Okogie’s strengths and weaknesses as a shooter, but similar general trends occur throughout his past few seasons; consistently, his strongest area as a shooter is either the right or left wing, with his percentages from the corners being more pedestrian. The Jazz attempted some of the fewest corner threes per game in the NBA this past season – hopefully this can lead to Okogie’s shooting leap to continue into 2026-2027.
Inside of the three point line, Okogie, once again, is nothing to really write home about. Even though Okogie is a good athlete, he isn’t too impressive as a vertical high-flyer; this can lead to ugly misses at the rim. He missed more dunks than I would’ve expected, and I’m sure the Rockets never felt great about Okogie driving headfirst into a set rim protector. Luckily, he tended to know his role in this regard as well – he never attempted to do too much to achieve rim attempts (which is good, considering his stiff, uncreative handle), and mostly found himself shooting in that range off of quick cuts or in transition. He isn’t the most active cutter in the world, sometimes being a bit too sedimentary behind the arc, but is proficient enough when he does decide to streak to open space near the rim.
To continue the tradition of unspectacular but serviceable offensive skills, his passing is just enough to keep the offense flowing but not much more than that. There were a few really impressive interior passes sprinkled throughout the clips of his assists, but for the most part his passes were simple, connective throws to teammates finding open space around the perimeter. I only recall a few pick-and-roll passes, which were unremarkable – while I’m sure he’s capable of hitting a roll-man, I don’t think he’s capable enough for it to be an aspect of his offense a coach can reliably call upon.
However, even with all of these middle-of-the-road offensive skills, the Rockets were still better offensively with Okogie on the court. How can this be? I believe this is explained by two factors. First, Okogie demands very little on the offensive end. Alperen Sengun and Kevin Durant were two Rockets players from this past season who were best operating with the ball in their hands, and Okogie’s completely unselfish offensive game could, if his shot was falling, act as an amplifier for a ball-dominant star. There’s a limit on how much good he could do offensively without a more dynamic offensive game, but a player who is perfectly content with hitting open threes and nothing else is still valuable.
The second factor, though, is a bit more interesting to me. One of Josh Okogie’s hidden superpowers is his activity on the offensive glass. In a down year, Okogie still grabbed 2.2 offensive rebounds per game per 36 minutes, and that impact was felt by his team – when he was on the court, the Rockets were nearly 2 percentage points better at snagging offensive rebounds. While watching, it almost felt like Okogie was conserving energy while stationed in the corner, with the expectation that he would exert it all the moment the ball left the shooters hands. With his linebacker frame, Okogie torpedoed towards the ball, and had a real nose for it – his anticipation for where the ball would bounce was really impressive. So, even without providing much value with the ball in his hands or even as a shooter, Okogie boosted his team’s offense by helping them win the possession battle – while he was out there, Durant and Sengun could count on more attempts because they could count on Okogie.
Synopsis: A simple offensive player who likes to station himself in the corners. Can shoot off the catch and not much else. Not strong with the ball in his hands. Great offensive rebounder for his position.
Defense
While this side of the court is his calling card, I do feel like there is less to be said regarding Okogie’s defense compared to his offense – whatever you think you know about his defense, you’re probably right.
All of his physical tools are best used on the defensive end of the court. His +8 wingspan is put to good use both on and off the ball. It allows him to guard up and down the lineup (his long arms make up for a small deficit in speed against point guards and a deficit in height against wings), and allows him to take up more space and muck things up even when he’s not guarding the point-of-attack. Additionally, Okogie offers a pretty unique combination of length and strength from the guard spot – it helps him to be able to take space AND keep it.
He’s quite adept when he gets switched down to a bigger player in the post. He’s really stocky, with a low center of gravity, and has constant energy when he’s working to deny the entry pass to his assignment down low. Combine that with killer hand-eye coordination, and you have a player who consistently got steals off errant passes to the post.
I think his best defensive skill is beating offensive players to passes. He has some great burst to quickly attack the floating ball, using his long arms and quick hands to get there first, and then uses his strength to muscle his opponent off of the path towards the loose ball so he can grab it and finish the transition opportunity. His consistently revving motor and active hands allowed him to be one of the more disruptive players in the league, deflecting more balls than any Jazzman in 2025-2026 not named John Konchar. Below is an example of this type of play against Victor Wembanyama, and there were quite a few more similar plays throughout the season.
As a defender, Okogie isn’t perfect. He isn’t the best defender against the quickest, shiftiest opposing guards – his strength and stocky frame does come at the expense of elite foot speed. Additionally, this past year was a downturn in regards to his shot-blocking. That doesn’t seem like the biggest deal when talking about a 6’4 guard, but one of his most impressive skills to me in the past was how he mirrored perimeter offensive players to such an extent that he was consistently blocking their jump-shots (the play below is my personal favorite) – hopefully he’s able to return to form as both a perimeter shot-blocker and rim presence this next season, especially considering he may be sharing substantial minutes with Kyle Filipowski at center, noted non-elite rim protector.
However, even if Okogie has his flaws as a defender, this is the side of the ball that has kept him in the league for over a decade, even during the years where he wasn’t shooting the 38.5% from behind the arc that he did in Houston. Even when his shot isn’t dropping, he provides a solid base level of value because his defense is just so high level. While he’s best guarding more traditional shooting guards, he can defend up the lineup with his stocky frame and long arms. Additionally, his motor is a skill itself – Okogie is a LOUD defender who shifts the tone of the game the moment he subs in. This is the type of stuff fan-favorites are made of, and I expect Okogie to get loud cheers in the Delta Center for these very skills.
Synopsis: This is where Okogie makes his money. Great activity, quick hands, and a special combination of length and strength. Can guard up or down the lineup, although quick point guards can best him. Hopefully his shot-blocking makes a return.
Conclusion/How It All Fits
The Utah Jazz need someone like Josh Okogie, but I’m not sure if they can fit in someone like Josh Okogie. It has been no secret that the Jazz defense has been awful ever since they’ve traded away Rudy Gobert, and while the fix won’t be made in a day, picking up Okogie could spark a very necessary culture shift on the defensive end. Perhaps Ace Bailey or Darryn Peterson one day take a big defensive leap (both have the potential to do so), but until then, the team needs someone to clap their hands and slap the floor and take the most difficult matchup night after night. After my deep dive, I’m confident in saying Josh Okogie has the defensive capabilities to be that stopgap as the young guys mature.
However, while Okogie could be an answer to the Jazz’s defensive issues, he may compound some of the struggles the team projects to have on offense. I worry that the Jazz built a roster with too many strong off-ball players – Lauri Markkanen, Darryn Peterson, Ace Bailey, and Jaren Jackson Jr. are all best being set up by a creator – so adding another player without strong ball handling or passing worries me. While he’s clearly the best defender out of the four options for the backup wing positions, he is just as clearly the most limited as an offensive player. Additionally, if the shot improvements aren’t maintained, he would be a third player on a hypothetical bench lineup with limited-to-no shooting gravity (him, Collier, and Filipowski or Hayes) – that may be an offensive situation that even Will Hardy can’t scheme his way out of.
At the end of the day, I doubt that Okogie intentionally signed in Utah to simply not play, so I bet he takes one of the two available slots. I also think that, even if Okogie hurts the offense, the total tonal shift he can provide on defense is probably worth it. This signing was a low-stakes swing on a player who, if the shot improvements are legitimate, may end up playing real minutes in the most important games of the year. For that alone, I think giving Okogie minutes in the regular season to build shooting flow and comprehension of Hardy’s system is the smart move. My deep dive taught me that he isn’t the best shooter, and he isn’t the best passer, and he isn’t the best dribbler, but it also taught me that Josh Okogie changes games. So, after this perhaps unnecessary exercise, I cam away with two things. First, a desire to no longer watch a compilation of wide-open threes, and second…an excitement for games to be changed in the Delta Center in 2027.
