Aged 46
DBB legend Ademola Okulaja is dead
05/17/2022, 8:15 p.m
20 years ago, Ademola Okulaja led the German national basketball team together with Dirk Nowitzki to the only World Cup medal in their history. Now one of the greatest players to ever wear the DBB jersey has passed away at the age of 46.
Ademola Okulaja is dead. According to information from RTL/ntv, the long-time German national basketball player died at the age of 46. After the end of his active career, which took him via Alba Berlin to the legendary University of North Carolina, to Spain, Italy and Russia, Okulaja stayed true to his sport. First he worked as an expert for television, most recently as a player consultant. His greatest success as an active professional is the bronze medal at the 2002 World Cup, when he led the selection of the German Basketball Association alongside Dirk Nowitzki, who was three years his junior, to the only medal at a World Cup to date. According to consistent media reports, Okulaja leaves behind his wife and two children.
The “Warrior”, as the 2.06 meter basketball player is nicknamed, played a total of 172 games for the German national team between 1995 and 2007. At times he led the selection as captain on the field, which then experienced what was probably the most successful era in its history. Fourth at the 2001 European Championships in Turkey, bronze at the 2002 World Cup in the USA, fifth at the 2007 European Championships in Spain. Okulaja missed the 2005 European Championships in Serbia and Montenegro due to injury, the DBB celebrated the silver medal, Nowitzki was honored as top scorer and most valuable player – and basketball Germany wondered what would have been possible without this failure in the final against Greece.
As news of the death of the popular Nigerian-born, Berlin-raised Okulaja spread early Tuesday evening, numerous companions expressed their condolences. “It’s so hard to understand and so incredibly sad,” writes Marco Pesic on Twitter, in the DBB jersey he was a teammate at the time and is now the managing director of the basketball team at FC Bayern Munich. “Rest in Peace Warrior” writes Robin Benzing there, the current captain of the German selection. Jan Jaglahimself a 141-time international, recognizes Okulaja as a “legend”. Vincent Carterwho became an NBA legend after their time together at the university in North Carolina, writes: “It hurts so much. We will miss you.”
cancer in 2008
The successes of the Nowitzki/Okulaja era are unmatched to this day, and the style of play of both exceptional professionals is still a role model for many. “Threes, dunks, defensive,” wrote the “FAZ” in its appreciation of what made the deceased special, and acknowledged: “Where he played, deep marks remained.” Okulaja came to Alba Berlin in 1994 via DTV Charlottenburg and TuS Lichterfelde, and a year later he moved to the USA. In the NCAA college league, at the University of North Carolina – to where Michael Jordan once developed into a superstar. He became the first player to lead the Tar Heels in points, rebounds, three-pointers and steals for an entire season.
After the dream of an engagement in the NBA did not come true at first, Okulaja moved back to Berlin in 2000 and became German champion with Alba. The winger remained unused for three months with the Philadelphia 76ers, after which he went to Spain, first to Girona and then to top club FC Barcelona. Via Malaga, Girona again, Treviso in Italy and Valencia, he returned to Germany in 2006 to regain his old form after his knee injury at RheinEnergie Köln. After further stints in Chimki, Russia, and in Alicante/Spain, he finally ended his career in Bamberg, where he was under contract from 2007 to 2009.
After a cancer tumor was diagnosed as a result of a vertebral fracture, Okulaja sat out from the summer of 2008 to recover. In the spring of 2009, the then 34-year-old reported that he had beaten cancer. A year later, he officially ended his impressive career and then switched to consulting. He helped Dennis Schröder make the leap into the NBA, and Daniel Theis from the Boston Celtics was also one of his clients. With Okulaja, German basketball loses one of its defining figures.