- Joined
- May 8, 2002
- Posts
- 1,195,089
- Reaction score
- 59
You must be registered for see images
16 November 2025, Rhineland-Palatinate, Trier: Basketball: BBL Cup, Gladiators Trier - FC Bayern Munich, knockout round, quarter-finals. Nolan Adekunle (l, Gladiators Trier) plays against Niels Giffey (FC Bayern Munich). Photo: Harald Tittel/dpa (Photo by Harald Tittel/picture alliance via Getty Images)
Ryan Odom has continued to add to the UVA roster and turned what was initially deemed to be a smaller incoming class into a deep one. He spent the offseason restocking Virginia’s roster with guards, frontcourt size, and shooting.
Nolan Adekunle fits the last opening. The 24-year-old German wing committed to the Cavaliers on Monday after a season with Gladiators Trier, giving Odom a veteran option behind Sam Lewis and his fifth European player (De Ridder, Grünloh, Vide, Carrère, and now Adekunle).
Adekunle averaged 8.4 points, 3.5 rebounds, and 1.1 assists across 37 games in the German Basketball Bundesliga, shooting 55.2 percent from the field and 42.3 percent from three. He joins an incoming class that already included Jurian Dixon, Christian Harmon, Favour Ibe, Kalu Anya, and Jan Vide, a group built to supplement a core that returned Chance Mallory, Lewis, Thijs de Ridder, and Johann Grünloh from a 30-win season.
An unusual route to Charlottesville
Adekunle is another player in the current wave of arrivals from outside the usual transfer pipeline and American system. He has played professionally in Germany since 2018 and logged at least 15 minutes a game in those leagues every season since. Trier had him under a contract extension, but according to German outlet n-tv, a clause let him leave for an NCAA program, with the club collecting a fixed transfer fee on the way out.
Adekunle’s extensive professional experience was likely a big part of the evaluation. Odom is getting a 24-year-old who has spent years playing against grown professionals, not a freshman who needs time to fill out. The German BBL sits seventh among European domestic leagues in Eurohoops’ rankings, behind the top-ranked Spanish ACB where de Ridder made his name. It is also the league Grünloh played in before stepping straight into Virginia’s starting lineup, which makes Grünloh a useful reference point for what Adekunle’s numbers might translate to.
A shooter, and high a volume one
One of the first things that jumps off the stat sheet is Adekunle’s 42.3 percent from three, which he shoots on good volume. Adekunle attempted more threes than twos last season, 111 to 92, and drew close to half his points from behind the arc. Shooting at that clip gives him great utility on a Ryan Odom team that prioritized shooting and spacing last year.
Additionally, Adekunle used the threat of his three to set up scoring opportunities elsewhere. He shot 70.7 percent on twos. These came primarily at the rim – Abekunle is a strong driver of the basketball and has multiple moves including a euro step which he can use to finish around the rim. In this regard, Abekunle is an example of the modern 3-and-D analytical darling primarily taking catch and shoot threes often from the corner or at the rim, cutting out the mid-range game and off-the-dribble contested looks that coaches hate. However, he is clearly a supplemental piece as he mostly plays off-ball and requires others to help set him up for clean looks.
Additionally, he has a FTA/FGA rate of 0.27, which is comparable to Dallin Hall from last year who had a rate of 0.28. However, his free throw percentage is 72.7% which was slightly below average compared to UVA last year and was the same percentage as Ugonna Onyenso, as opposed to top free throw shooters like Jacari White and Dallin Hall.
With UVA already adding several on-ball players this cycle in Dixon, Harmon, and Vide to go along with Mallory, adding a forward who acts as a play finisher rather than an initiator makes a lot of sense.
How the profile fits last year’s team
Run Adekunle’s shot diet against the team Odom just coached and the overlap is striking. Virginia’s top nine players took 47 percent of their shots from three last season; Adekunle was at 55. His scoring split of 42 percent on twos, 45 on threes, and 13 at the line compares most similarly to Sam Lewis at 38/49/13 and Malik Thomas at 36/45/19, the two wings whose games most resemble his. Where he separates from them is inside the arc, where his finishing around the rim is the primary difference maker.
After seeing the three point percentage, fans might initially be clambering for a Jacari White comparison, and the bench role is similar: a shooter Odom can trust to stay on the floor in close games. The players are not alike. White took three-quarters of his shots from deep as a 6-foot-3 guard and lived off movement. Adekunle is three inches taller, heavier, and plays through contact. Devin Tillis is the closer stylistic match, another reserve forward who spent most of his offense beyond the arc, except Adekunle is a better shooter and much stronger finisher around the rim while lacking the back to the basket presence that Tillis occasionally showcased.
His real value to this roster is range at the forward spot. De Ridder and Grünloh scored 57 and 60 percent of their points, respectively, on twos. Both pull defenses toward the rim. Adekunle stretches the floor for them, turning a De Ridder post-up or a Grünloh roll into a difficult decision for the help defender, and lets Odom keep shooting on the floor when he goes to a bigger lineup.
The rest of the game
The non-shooting parts are harder to judge from a box score, but Adekunle’s game translates in the film. Adekunle is an aggressive rebounder and a physical defender and flashes the occasional block. He played power forward at Trier but due to his size and UVA’s depth at the four, he projects to small forward at Virginia. In the film, he appears to be a switchable defender that can cover most threes and fours with noticeable recovery ability that should be a good backup to Sam Lewis.
Projecting the 2026-27 rotation
Here is how I project the roster sorts out as of now:
- Point guard: Chance Mallory, Jan Vide
- Shooting guard: Jurian Dixon, Christian Harmon, Elijah Gertrude
- Small forward: Sam Lewis, Nolan Adekunle, Martin Carrere
- Power forward: Thijs de Ridder, Kalu Anya, Silas Barksdale
- Center: Johann Grünloh, Favour Ibe
Mallory, Dixon, Lewis, de Ridder, and Grünloh look like the starting five. Harmon, Anya, Vide, and Adekunle make up the heart of the bench, with Gertrude, Carrere, Barksdale, and Ibe competing for whatever minutes remain. Adekunle likely slots in around seventh or eighth in minutes on the team, worth 14 to 18 minutes a night if the shooting carries to the ACC. He could push past 20 if he holds up defensively against quicker wings and he shoots in the mid-forty percents from three.
Alternatively, if the younger guys take a big leap he could see less minutes. UVA’s depth means Odom never has to force anyone on the floor, but Adekunle plays a needed role on the team where UVA didn’t have too many comparable players, so he’ll likely find solid playing time.
Is Odom finished with the roster?
Probably, at least with moves that matter. The men’s roster limit rose from 13 to 15 this season under the House settlement, so Odom could still add a body or two. But Virginia now carries roughly 14 players and has no opening left worth chasing a name for. Mallory runs the point, Dixon and Harmon score, Lewis and Adekunle cover the wing, and de Ridder anchors a frontcourt with Grünloh behind him. Anything else this summer would likely be more of a developmental project rather than a rotation piece.
Odom has spent his second offseason in Charlottesville turning a 30-win team into a deeper, older, more international one. Despite not adding a headline transfer, Odom made excellent use of the players he brought in last year. Adekunle is the sort of player good teams pick up in late June to fill out the roster: experience, shooting, and a clear understanding of the job. Virginia needed all three.
Continue reading...
