German BBL Youth Update: Justin Onyejiaka
The calendar has turned to 2023 and it’s time to look at some of the younger players ion the German easyCredit BBL and how they are performing. This time: Justin Onyejiaka of Fraport Skyliners
The German easyCredit BBL has attracted attention throughout the continent for its ever-improving quality of play, financial stability and development of young talent. At Taking The Charge we will be looking at some of the young up-and-coming players in the league and how they are performing. This time - Justin Onyejiaka of Fraport Skyliners.
Justin Onyejiaka - 2004 - Fraport Skyliners Frankfurt
Frankfurt made headlines this summer when they signed Justin Onyejiaka to a contract for two years plus an option for two more seasons. The 18-year-old shooting guard arrived from ProA club RASTA Vechta and was given a double license to play in with Frankfurt’s juniors in the third division ProB and the easyCredit BBL team.
Onyejiaka has shown everyone why he is a high level talent in the ProB, averaging 13.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.3 steals in 20 minutes, including pouring in 29 points against Coburg on December 30.
Onyejiaka was the beneficiary of Frankfurt’s early season injury issues and he made his debut on November 19, scoring 5 points to go with 3 assists and 1 assist in 10:01 minutes against Brose Bamberg. Onyejiaka scored 2 points in 3:58 minutes against Telekom Baskets Bonn on December 29. And then came his first big game in the easyCredit BBL last week.
Frankfurt added the 18-year-old to the roster for the expected home blowout at the hands of reigning champions ALBA Berlin. The 1.95m shooting guard used his time well versus Berlin, playing 25:53 minutes in the 99-74 loss and scoring 11 points on 5-of-8 shots (including 1/1 threes) to go with 2 rebounds, 1 assist and 1 steal for an efficiency of 12.
Onyejiaka is not an unknown to the international basketball world. He averaged 4.8 points, 2.4 rebounds and 1.4 assists at the FIBA U18 European Challengers 2021 and then collected 9.8 points, 5.0 rebounds and 2.6 assists in the FIBA U18 European Championship 2022. His best performance came in the important Classification 9-16 game as he scored 15 points to go with 7 rebounds, 5 assists and 1 steal in an 88-75 victory over Croatia to avoid relegation to Division B.
Onyejiaka, who has Polish and Nigerian roots, stood out in the youth ranks in Germany domestically. In the 2019-20 season, he dominated the U16 JBBL for Young Rasta Dragons, averaging 25.3 points, 6.1 rebounds, 3.6 assists and 3.6 steals - including a 40-point outburst with 10 rebounds, 5 assists and 9 steals against Rostock. Onyejiaka ended up winning the Most Valuable Player of the JBBL that season.
The 2021-22 season Onyejiaka spent with Young Rasta Dragons’s U19 NBBL team and collected 22.4 points, 7.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists, 2.3 steals and 1.0 blocks. The absolute highlight of the NBBL season was Onyejiaka pouring in 49 points to go with 12 rebounds and 4 assists in a 102-87 win over Paderborn.
His last game however came in the opening game of the playoffs, in which he collected 36 points, 8 rebounds, 7 assists and 4 steals in a 101-72 win over Münster on March 20.

Onyejiaka would suffer an ankle injury and he did not play the rest of the seaosn. The Dragons would get past Münster and then Paderborn to reach the NBBL Final Four - where they beat FC Bayern Munich 68-64 without Onyejiaka but lost in the title bout agianst ALBA Berlin 107-64.
The injury also meant Onyejiaka missed a chance to play at the Euroleague Basketball Adidas Next Generation Tournament as he was selected for the Next Generation Team Patras but could not play.
And Onyejiaka did not have the opportunity to help Rasta’s second team go through the fourth division Regionalliga playoffs, in which they defeated Neustadt TSV in the Semi-Finals before knocking off Aschersleben in the Finals to earn promotion to the ProB for the 2022-23 season.
Onyejiaka ended up playing 14 games in the Regionalliga and averaged 18.9 points, 5.6 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.4 steals. He opened the season with 33 points against Aschersleben and also had a double-double of 32 points and 11 rebounds versus Bergedorf.
Comparison to Maodo Lo and Wade Baldwin
Onyejiaka’s move from Vechta to Frankfurt means he has a chance to play in the BBL - something he could have next season at the earliest if he had stayed with Vechta, who this season have teams in the ProA and ProB.
In Onyejiaka’s breakout game against Berlin, he got to face one of the players he is compared to. Hendrik Gruhn served as Onyejiaka’s coach last season for both the NBBL team and second team in the Regionalliga. And Gruhn said the youngster compares to Maodo Lo as well as Wade Baldwin from Maccabi Tel Aviv.
“I think the best German comparison would be Maodo Lo. Both are shifty and very mobile on offense. Justin is bigger and more athletic than Maodo,” Bruhn was quoted in an interview with German Hoops. “Justin’s shooting and ball handling is similar to Lo. If I had to compare his game to a NBA/Euroleague player then the best comparison would be Wade Baldwin. Both have long arms and when both are in the flow are very hard to stop.”
About Onyejiaka, Bruhn continued: “He is an allrounder. I feel that he is the best German player for his age. He is a scorer that can finish at the rim, has a pull up and is overall a good shooter. When the opponent keys in on him, then he is able to find his teammates. His court vision is very good for his age. He can score 30-35 points. That’s his game.”
Onyejiaka’s game is definitely thrilling and he has shown at each level thus far that he can score the ball in bunches. It will be fascintating to see what kind of step he takes this season in Frankfurt.