AUBURN, Ala. – In a span of 83 days – less than three months – Chuma Okeke went from the lowest of lows to the highest of highs, from an ACL tear to a first-round selection in the NBA Draft.
"A real blessing, especially after my ACL injury," said Okeke Friday when the Orlando Magic introduced the former Auburn star, the No. 16 overall pick in the NBA Draft. "I really didn't see this coming. But they gave me a chance and I'm ready to come in and work hard and get my leg back stronger and start bonding with the team."
Okeke was in Atlanta with his family when the call came.
"When they called my name, it was just a shock," Okeke said. "It still doesn't feel real. It's a blessing that they gave me a chance like this."
Okeke helped lead the Tigers to the SEC Tournament championship and the Elite Eight before injuring his knee after scoring 20 points and grabbing 11 rebounds in Auburn's 97-80 win over North Carolina on March 29.
"Going down was hard. I didn't really think it was going to be an ACL because I got up and started walking, and I didn't feel any pain when I was walking. I felt like I was going to play again in the tournament. But when I went back to the doctors, they said I wasn't going to play. That really hurt a lot.
"The moment [Thursday] night, that brought a lot of joy to me, my family and my friends because this is what we all worked hard for together. That kind of replaced the pain I felt."
In his first visit with reporters in Orlando, Okeke reflected often on his two seasons with Auburn coach Bruce Pearl and the Tigers.
"Back in Auburn, my coach always said he's always going to talk the talk but he expected us to walk the walk and play for him," Okeke said. "I see that the Magic had a lot of confidence in me, so I'm just going to play hard for them for giving me this opportunity because I've noticed this is a once-in-a-lifetime thing."
Vowing to 'do it for Chuma," Auburn beat Kentucky 77-71 in overtime on March 31 to advance to the Final Four for the first time.
"It meant a lot," Okeke said. "Going into that season, we were a really close team coming up from my freshman year. That bond we had was really strong. I knew they were going to play hard for me because I was always playing hard for them. It was just a really good feeling."
After Okeke's breakout sophomore season, Pearl, who often referred to Chuma as a "pro," encouraged Okeke to make the jump to the NBA, despite his injury, based on his emergence during Auburn's postseason run.
"He was telling me I should go to the Draft, focusing on my rehab, focusing on getting better," Okeke said.
After averaging 7.5 points and 5.8 rebounds as a freshman, Okeke started 38 games in 2018-19 as a sophomore and averaged 12 points and 6.8 rebounds, leading the Tigers with 69 steals and 46 blocked shots.
"Going into my sophomore year from my freshman year, I saw what I needed to do, I saw what I needed to improve on," Okeke said. "Playing in the SEC, I feel like that's one of the most physical conferences in college basketball. My body wasn't right my freshman year, so I just stayed in Auburn all summer and kept meeting with my strength and conditioning coach, Coach D [Damon Davis]. Met with my nutritionist. I just stayed in the weight room, I stayed in the gym."
Okeke's commitment and talent earned the trust of his teammates.
"In those big games, my teammates gave me a lot of confidence," he said. "They saw how much I was in the gym and they gave me a lot of confidence and my coaching staff, too."
"If you look at where he came from, from a freshman to a sophomore, he clearly put a lot of work in over the summer, and his trajectory was right where you want it to be," Orlando president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said. "He's just getting better and better and better as the games get bigger and bigger and bigger."
'He can do many things': Okeke's development at Auburn impressed Orlando
While the Tigers were winning the SEC Tournament and reaching the Final Four, the Magic targeted Okeke as a potential draftee.
"We were already tracking him very closely," Weltman said. "We were very impressed by the impact he makes on the people around him. He's not an extroverted, look-at-me type of guy. He's very workmanlike and he's consistent and he plays for his team first.
"Those are the sorts of people that the fans and the coaches gravitate towards. They lift other people up. Those are the sorts of guys we want to bring here.
"His versatility will help him fill in wherever we need. The beauty of Chuma is that he is that sort of player. He can do many things. He can guard many positions, and he's always going to do it in a way that impacts winning. He plays for others, and when you have a guy like that who's talented and skilled, who brings shootings and IQ, it's a really appealing package."
It's a package that appealed to Auburn fans the past two seasons, helping the Tigers achieve the most wins (56) in consecutive seasons in program history. Having finished his business on the Plains, Chuma Okeke embarks on an NBA career with the well-wishes of a fan base he captivated.
"I came to Auburn to help them be a basketball school again, and so did my teammates and I feel like we accomplished that in a big way," Okeke said. "We made history at Auburn, and I feel like that played a big part in me going to the draft.
"I feel like it's a real family environment here. All of my past teams, we were really close, a real family environment. I like to be in family environments. The closer we are, the more that helps us win on the court."
'We accomplished that in a big way': Chuma Okeke says he wanted to help Auburn be a basketball school again
Jeff Shearer is a Senior Writer at AuburnTigers.com. Follow him on Twitter: @jeff_shearer