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2022 Free Agents - Semi Ojeleye

Summary
Despite Ojeleye having some promising moments over the course of his career, including getting minutes for some conference finals teams, he just hasn't developed his offensive game enough to become a reliable rotational piece. Ojeleye shot above-average from three-point range from 2019 to 2021, but it was on low volume, and he normally has to be wide open with his feet set in order to let it fly. He doesn't have any playmaking or off-the-dribble game.

On defense, Ojeleye is as strong as any wing, and can therefore hang with some of the elite wings in the NBA. However, he's not quick enough to be an elite defender, and doesn't provide rim protection in the way that someone like Draymond Green was able to do at his size. If he can improve his defensive positional awareness to provide better rim protection, teams may be interested in him as a small-ball center.

The Bucks signed Ojeleye in 2021 hoping he could somewhat fill the shoes of P.J. Tucker, but was unable to get consistent minutes and ended up being traded to the Clippers as essentially a salary dump, and may need to try to develop his game overseas or in the G-League in order to get interest from NBA teams.
 
Cap Considerations
Ojeleye was waived by the Clippers near the end of the '21-'22 season. Teams will have multiple ways to sign Ojeleye as even teams without cap space could possibly use any of the Non-Taxpayer MLE, Taxpayer MLE, Room MLE, or Bi-Annual Exception to sign him. It's also likely that Ojeleye only gets minimum offers, and may not even get fully-guaranteed offers.

Potential Teams: Trailblazers, Clippers, Bulls, Nuggets, Wizards

Predicted Contract: 1-year, $2.1 million (non-guaranteed) with the Trailblazers

Last updated: 3/27/2022

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