Scheduled
Boston Celtics at Detroit Pistons
2026-27 · Regular season
Ugonna Onyenso thought his NBA dream was over. Now he wants to give the Pistons their shot-blocker back
After a lost year at Kansas State, the No. 53 pick was ready to play overseas. Now the Pistons' two-way rookie center wants to fill the rim-protection gap Isaiah Stewart left, and he is learning the NBA's pace to do it.
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A year and a half ago, Ugonna Onyenso was sure the NBA had passed him by. Now the 7-foot rookie from Owerri, Nigeria, is on a two-way contract with the Detroit Pistons, and he wants to be the player who brings back the rim protection the team lost this summer.
“I feel like my defense, what I bring on the floor defensively,” Onyenso said in a sit-down with Leonard Solms, published Monday, when he was asked what he wants Pistons fans to remember him for. “Because they lost a shot-blocker and I want them to know that I’m going to bring that shot-blocking ability back on defense for them too.”
The shot-blocker he is talking about is Isaiah Stewart, whom Detroit traded to the Memphis Grizzlies for three future second-round picks. Onyenso said he even hopes to pass Stewart in that part of the game one day. First, though, he has to get used to the speed of the league.
“I thought I had no shot”
Onyenso came through NBA Academy Africa and Putnam Science Academy in Connecticut and arrived at Kentucky in 2022 as a highly rated prospect who had already played for Nigeria. His freshman year was modest, and a foot injury wrecked his sophomore season. He transferred to Kansas State to get going again, but 2024-25 turned into the least productive year of his college career: 2.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 0.9 blocks in 24 games, with only two starts.
“After Kansas State, I thought I had no shot to get into the NBA anymore,” he said. “When I left Kansas State, I thought I was going to go to a low-major D1, but as God may have it, I was fortunate enough to go to Virginia. That was when I regained hope that I may have a chance.”
His one season at Virginia changed everything. He averaged 6.5 points, 4.9 rebounds and 2.9 blocks in only 18.6 minutes a game, made the ACC All-Defensive team, and started letting it fly from outside. “When my coaches let me shoot the ball, I was like, ‘OK, I have a real chance to get back on the draft board,'” he said. If the NBA had not worked out, he said, he probably would have gone overseas.
The jumper has followed him to Detroit. In early October, Pistons beat writer Hunter Patterson posted video of him knocking down threes alongside Paul Reed:
No reaction at No. 53
Even on draft night, Onyenso did not expect much. “I thought I was going to go undrafted or go 60th. The Bucks had already texted my agent, saying that if I was available at 60, they would pick me at 60,” he said. “I heard my name get called and they didn’t text my agent or nothing. I don’t know if you saw. I didn’t even have a reaction when my name got called.”
The No. 53 pick was officially Houston’s. His rights went to the New York Knicks, and Detroit then bought the pick for cash. Soon after, he signed his two-way deal.
Learning the NBA’s pace
Onyenso was honest about what he is still working on. “The pace is the biggest difference,” he said. “My blocked shots have got to be on a different timing and I’m still figuring that out. Getting rebounds, getting pick-and-rolls really fast, the little things like that. Being able to do it at a higher pace requires getting in shape and conditioning myself more, but I’m getting there.”
Most of his work has been with Assane Sene, a Senegalese G League assistant who has spent the preseason with Detroit’s big men and whom Stewart has praised in the past. Sene’s message for the rookie is simple: enjoy it, and do not get comfortable. “When things start going your way, don’t say, ‘I’m not going in the gym tomorrow,'” Sene said. “I feel like he’s doing a really good job of not being too comfortable. He’s very hungry and wants to keep getting better.”
Sene pointed to another African center as an example: Phoenix’s Khaman Maluach, who he said looks like a completely different player than he did in college after putting in the time in the gym and the weight room. “The NBA game is all about spacing,” Sene said. “Maluach understands better the spacing, which Ugo has been doing a really good job learning. He’s getting there, which is really fun to watch.”
Where he fits right now
For now, Onyenso is the youngest piece of the Pistons’ frontcourt rather than a rotation player. He appeared in one preseason game, logging seven minutes in the Oct. 15 win at Minnesota with four rebounds and an assist. With Jalen Duren starting and Reed moving up to backup center, Detroit’s official injury report lists Onyenso as out for Tuesday’s opener because of his two-way G League assignment, not because of an injury. We broke down the rest of the Pistons’ depth chart in our look at Ebuka Okorie and Tolu Smith.
Detroit opens the season against the Boston Celtics at Little Caesars Arena on Tuesday, Oct. 20, at 3 p.m. ET (10 p.m. Cairo). Lineups and live stats are on the Game Center.
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