Olajuwon’s son gets offer from Virginia

By Jerry Ratcliffe

His father played in some historic battles against Virginia basketball in the early 1980s, and now Aziz Olajuwon has been offered by Ryan Odom’s UVA staff.

Olajuwon, the son of NBA Hall of Famer and former Houston Cougar Hakeem “The Dream” Olajuwon, announced Monday that he was “blessed to receive an offer from the University of Virginia.”

The younger Olajuwon is a 4-star member of the recruiting class of 2026 and holds offers from UVA, Houston, TCU, Cincinnati, Vanderbilt, Stanford, Virginia Tech and others. But get this — at the beginning of June, the 6-foot-6 small forward only had offers from two schools: Sam Houston State and UT Arlington.

Olajuwon’s recruitment exploded after he showed dramatic improvement in summer basketball, jumping all the way to No. 40 on 247’s national recruiting list and No. 68 on Rivals.

He’s much smaller than his celebrated 7-foot father, who played alongside Virginia star Ralph Sampson with the Houston Rockets, nicknamed the Twin Towers. Aziz is a very athletic kid, three-level scorer, can play defense, can bring the ball up the court, can shoot. In fact, Rivals selected him as one of the top shooters in the ‘26 class.

Olajuwon showed everyone why during the NBA Top 100 camp this summer when he averaged 20.6 points and 5.4 rebounds per game over a five-game unbeaten stretch. He was the camp’s fourth-leading scorer and put up 29 points in one game, going 12 of 19 from the field and 4 of 9 from the arc.

He made more than 40 percent of his 3-point attempts on the summer circuits. Last season, playing for Sugar Land, Texas, he averaged 20.6 points and 10 rebounds per game. Olajuwon’s stock should continue to rise with the announcement Monday that he is transferring to high-profile IMG Academy in Bradenton, Fla., this season.

Olajuwon has already visited Stanford and has announced plans to make trips to TCU, Houston, Cincinnati and Vanderbilt. With UVA jumping in late, the Cavaliers are hoping to get an official visit from the rising star.

“He is one of the most improved players I’ve seen in a long time from where he was 1 1/2 years ago to now,” said Tom Crean. “His movement, efficiency, two-way play and scoring is just getting started.”