Griffins add talented, ascending 6-foot-10 St. Jude's Prep product, Amsterdam's Otis Onink
Jefferson Hagen
MacEwan Athletics
EDMONTON – Showing a remarkable amount of progression since only deciding to pursue hoops in 2024, the sky is the limit for latest addition to Griffins men's basketball head coach David Kapinga's recruiting class.
Amsterdam, Netherlands product Otis Onink will be moving to Edmonton to kick off a promising U SPORTS career with the Griffins in 2026-27.
He has been living and training in Canada this past season with St. Jude's Prep Academy in Mississauga, Ont.
"He's someone who brings a lot of tenacity ad brute force," said Kapinga of the 6-foot-10 Onink. "Pretty skilled at his height. He started taking basketball seriously 24 months ago. So, he's come a long way already. For me, as a skill developer, that's my forte as a coach. I think someone like him who has the God-given (talent), I can help build the rest."
Onink's size will be huge for a Griffins team graduating a few of its top players in the paint and he has the potential to be an immediate contributor.
"He works hard and he's a very bright kid, so I think he can come in and bring some size in terms of both height and weight, which is going to be very, very useful for us," said Kapinga.
Onink was introduced to basketball when he was between 9-12 years old but didn't start taking it seriously until he played for Apollo Amsterdam prior to coming over to Canada.
At St. Jude's he played on one of the most diverse rosters around with fellow Netherlands product Jayden Autar, Italian Samuel Ulrich and Nicholas Csonka from Brazil. Onink was named as one of the top five Europeans at a major U.S. tournament last October.
"He's a great human, a great person, who's great for culture," said Kapinga. "And he brings a different experience. I think it's part of what I want to bring to this program – being able to understand that the world is big and there are different situations, different cultures and all those experiences are good for you to know. I'm trying to build the human just as much as the basketball player."
With top post player Dami Osuma graduating, the Griffins have a hole to fill up front and Onink has a chance to play meaningful minutes there.
"I felt like this year when all the things went wrong, we were able to pass it into the post and have Dami become a hub," said Kapinga. "He was a great decision maker. This year, we're trying to bring a little bit of that, but we're also trying to bring a different part, which is the size to block – to deter people from going on the inside in the paint against us – and the size to finish. I thought last year we were missing a lob threat and this year we should have four of them coming in.
"I think that just spaces things out for us, helps our guards make better and easier decisions because now I don't have a small window, I have a big window vertically to pass the ball. All those little passes on the knees that led to turnovers, we won't have that problem next year."
