# James Okello > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/James_Okello > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/James_Okello.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Okello > Source revision: 1315813101 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **James Okello** (born 26 January 1990) is a Ugandan [basketball](/source/Basketball) player, who plays for [City Oilers](/source/City_Oilers) and the [Uganda national basketball team](/source/Uganda_national_basketball_team). ## Early and personal life While his father was polygamous, James Okello was the sixth of nine children to his mother.[1] In school, besides [basketball](/source/Basketball), he was involved in athletics (as a [sprinter](/source/Sprint_(running))) and [soccer](/source/Soccer). Okello’s sporting efforts especially in basketball right through school earned him a full scholarship at [Crane High School](/source/Crane_High_School_(Uganda)) for five years. In 2010, he received his degree there.[1] In November 2013, when James Okello was right in the middle of the national playoffs, his father died. Henceforth, James Okello took care of the family.[1] He has a [Diploma](/source/Diploma) in [Procurement](/source/Procurement) from [Makerere University Business School](/source/Makerere_University_Business_School).[1] Uganda's Rugby national team star [Phillip Wokorach](/source/Phillip_Wokorach) is Okello’s step brother. They both wear the jersey number 15. When Okello won the 2019 [National Championship](/source/National_Basketball_League_(Uganda)), Wokorach posted on social media that "Number 15 rules the nation."[1] ## Club career James Okello was recruited by the [City Oilers](/source/City_Oilers) in 2012. This was on the recommendation of Okello's high school coach, [Justus Mugisha](/source/Justus_Mugisha), who, as of early 2020 has worked as an assistant coach for the Oilers.[1] In 2019, Okello was voted the [Uganda Sports Press Association](/source/Uganda_Sports_Press_Association) male basketball player of the year. That was before he inspired the Oilers to an unprecedented seventh successive [National Basketball League](/source/National_Basketball_League_(Uganda)) (NBL) title.[1] During the 2019–20 playoff finals with [UCU Canons](/source/UCU_Canons), the Oilers were missing key players: [Stephen Omony](/source/Stephen_Omony) and [Nigerian](/source/Nigeria) import [Francis Azolibe](/source/Francis_Azolibe). Also, [Jonathan Egau](/source/Jonathan_Egau) did not play. [Tony Drileba](/source/Tony_Drileba) and [Daniel Jjuuko](/source/Daniel_Jjuuko) played on pain killers. Yet, Okello insured that the Oilers’ winning run would not end as he led his team to a 4–3 series victory.[1] During the 2018 playoff finals against the [Betway Power](/source/Betway_Power), the Oilers lost game one 66–85. In the second game, by the end of the first quarter, Okello was bleeding, after his lower lip was deeply torn into two. Yet, he played through the pain and aided the Oilers’ 78–71 win. The Oilers later won the championship again on a 4–1 aggregate.[1] No player has been at City Oilers longer than James Okello. Altogether, he helped the team earn seven National Championships.[1] ## National team career He helped [Uganda's national team](/source/Uganda_men's_national_basketball_team) win two [Africa Zone Five championships](/source/FIBA_Africa) in 2017 and 2018.[1] Later, he was part of the team for the [AfroBasket 2021 qualification](/source/AfroBasket_2021_qualification) games against [Egypt](/source/Egypt_men's_national_basketball_team), [Morocco](/source/Morocco_men's_national_basketball_team) and [Cape Verde](/source/Cape_Verde_men's_national_basketball_team).[2] ## Player profile James Okello mostly plays the [power forward](/source/Power_forward_(basketball)) position,[2] in some cases he has also played [center](/source/Center_(basketball)).[1] [Hamza Nyambogo](/source/Hamza_Nyambogo), the former [KIU Titans](/source/KIU_Titans) head coach stressed Okello's intangibles: “I do not know of any player today who puts their body on the line for their team like Okello does as though everything depends on it. Yet, in basketball sense, Okello never accepts defeat.”[1] ## BAL career statistics |- | style="text-align:left;"|[2023](/source/2023_BAL_season) | style="text-align:left;"|[City Oilers](/source/2022%E2%80%9323_City_Oilers_season) | 5 || 0 || 14.2 || .143 || .000 || .667 || 2.0 || .8 || .4 || .0 || 1.2 |- | style="text-align:left;"|[2024](/source/2024_BAL_season) | style="text-align:left;"|[City Oilers](/source/2023%E2%80%9324_City_Oilers_season)|| 6 || 0 || 13.0 || .462 || .000 || .000 || 1.3 || 0.8 || 0.2 || 0.0 || 2.0 |- ## References 1. [Mister City Oilers!](https://observer.ug/sports/63514-mister-city-oilers) John Vianney Nsimbe ([The Observer](/source/The_Observer_(Uganda))), 13 February 2020. Accessed 29 June 2021. 1. [Okello optimistic ahead of AfroBasket 2021 Qualifiers](https://kawowo.com/2021/02/10/okello-optimistic-ahead-of-afrobasket-2021-qualifiers/) Franklin Kaweru ([Kawowo Sports](/source/Kawowo_Sports)), 10 February 2021. Accessed 29 June 2021. ## External links - [FIBA profile](https://www.fiba.basketball/afrobasket/2021/qualifiers/player/James-Okello) - [Afrobasket.com profile](https://basketball.afrobasket.com/player/James-Okello/Uganda/City-Oilers-Kampala/138896) - [RealGM profile](https://basketball.realgm.com/player/James-Okello/Summary/121371) --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [James Okello](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Okello) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Okello?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.