Former Utah Jazz player Miye Oni is getting a second shot.
Not everyone makes the best of their first shot, not in life and certainly not in the NBA. For every second-rounder like Isaiah Thomas, there are a dozen like Miye Oni. Guys who never got a shot and got passed over. For one reason or another, they don’t stick when they land with a new team. Usually, it’s because, despite needing time to develop, teams don’t really give them that time.
The NBA is far more cutthroat than say the MLB in that regard. You have one contract, sometimes not even that long, to prove you’re worth keeping around, and if you can’t, you’re gone. Usually, before that contract is over. In the case of Oni, he was traded by the Utah Jazz to the New Orleans Pelicans and then waived.
And while he did play 54 games in 2020-2021, he played less than 10 minutes and didn’t make any real statistical impact on the game. This despite being a very good shooter while he played at Yale. Shooting 43% from the floor and 36% from three, Oni was a standout for the Ivy League Institute.
Yet, the Jazz just never seemed to need him or want him to shoot. So he was deemed expendable and off he went. After a brief stop with the London Lions of the British Basketball League, the Orlando Magic have opted to give the former Jazz guard a second shot at NBA life.
He’ll have a lot to prove, as the Jazz just leaned on him for his size on defense more often than not. It seems like the Magic are expecting him to make the team, as they currently sit at 17 players with two of those men being on two-way contracts.
He was rather unremarkable during his time with the Jazz, but he now has a second shot to make a first impression. An impression he’ll have to make in camp, as he didn’t exactly stand out in London.
In 22 minutes per game, he scored just under eight points per game. He shot well enough, hitting 36% from the floor and 24% from three, but that’s nothing spectacular either.
That said, he had his highest player efficiency rating since his time in the G-Leauge with the Salt Lake City Stars, posting a 10.5. So clearly he has intangibles that the Magic are hoping to transfer during the season.