ITHACA, N.Y. -- Former Cornell men's basketball standout AK Okereke '25 has signed a two-way NBA contract with the Los Angeles Lakers following the 2026 NBA Draft. A two-way contract allows a team to have players who can split time between the NBA and the G League to develop young talent and provide flexibility in roster management. 

Okereke developed from a walk-on into an All-Ivy League player in his three years at Cornell before graduating a year early and playing one season as a graduate transfer at Vanderbilt. A second-team All-Ivy League selection and all-tournament team honoree at Ivy Madness in 2024-25, Okereke averaged 13.9 points, 4.6 rebounds, 4.1 assists, 1.1 steals, and 1.1 blocks while leading the Ancient Eight and ranking 18th nationally in field goal percentage (.595). In conference play, he ranked in the top 10 in scoring, assists, blocks, steals, field goal percentage and 3-point percentage despite sitting outside the top 25 in minutes played. 

He scored a career-high 30 points against Ivy champion Yale and averaged 23.5 points, 8.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists, 3.0 steals, and 2.5 blocks on 67 percent shooting at Ivy Madness, where he scored 25 points with nine rebounds and four steals in the semifinal before adding 22 points, eight rebounds, and five assists in the championship game. He earned Ivy League Player of the Week honors after scoring 24 points with three steals and three blocks in Cornell's first victory over an ACC program in nearly 60 years with the team's victory at California. 

At Vanderbilt, Okereke averaged 9.6 points, 3.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists across 36 games as a graduate transfer, starting 35 contests for a Commodores squad that reached the second round of the NCAA Tournament. He scored a season-high 23 points against Texas A&M and posted 17-point efforts at South Carolina, against Ole Miss and at Tennessee, shooting 40 percent from three-point range on the season.

If Okereke's path to the Lakers seems familiar, it should. Former teammate Chris Manon '24 was a first-team All-Ivy pick as a senior for the Big Red before playing a graduate transfer year and starting at Vanderbilt before signing a two-way deal with the Lakers as an undrafted free agent. He became the first Cornellian to appear in an NBA game in more than a decade, appearing in nine contests.

Okereke is expected to play for the Lakers in the upcoming NBA summer league. 

Cornell has had many connections to the NBA over the years, as five former student-athletes have played in the league with a total of 12 players being drafted over the years.

Nat Militzok was the first Cornellian to play in the NBA, seeing time for both the Toronto Huskies of the BAA (the forerunner of the NBA) and New York Knicks during the 1946-47 season. In 57 total games, Militzok averaged 4.3 points. He had the honor of playing in what is considered the first NBA game for the Knicks against the Huskies in Toronto on Nov. 1, 1946. The longest career belonged to Ed Peterson, who played a season with the Syracuse Nationals in 1949-50 before suiting up for the Tri-City Blackhawks the following year. In 115 NBA games, Peterson averaged 7.0 points. Gene Berce played three games for Tri-City during the 1949-50 season after being drafted by the New York Knicks a year earlier. He averaged 3.3 points and 0.7 assists. Prior to Manon last year, Jeff Foote '10 had been the latest with the New Orleans Hornets. Foote played in four contests during the 2011-12 season, averaging 1.0 point and 1.5 rebounds per contest.

The highest drafted player was Lee Morton '54, going 25th overall in the third round to the Rochester Royals in the 1954 draft. Both George Farley '60 (fifth round, 34th overall in 1960) and Louis Jordan '59 (6th round, 42nd overall in 1959) have also gone among the top 50 players drafted.

Additionally, former Big Red letterwinners Jeffrion Aubry '99, Cody Toppert '05, Ryan Wittman '10, Shonn Miller '15 and Matt Morgan '19 have played in the G League, the NBA's sanctioned minor league. Off the court, Bryan Colangelo '87 was named the NBA's Executive of the Year in 2005 as the team president and general manager of the Phoenix Suns and currently serves in the same role for the Toronto Raptors organization.