Tai Odiase
Tai Osazeeonamen Odiase (born September 21, 1995) is a Nigerian American professional basketball center who is naturalized Puerto Rican. He plays for Hapoel Tel Aviv in the Israeli Ligat HaAl and the EuroLeague. He is 6'9" tall and weighs 240 pounds. Born in Glenwood, Illinois, he played high school basketball at Homewood-Flossmoor and college basketball at the University of Illinois Chicago (UIC) from 2014 to 2018. Odiase finished his college career as one of the Horizon League's top defenders, earning Defensive Player of the Year in 2017 and 2018 and making the All-Defensive Team three times; he finished with 361 career blocks, the most in UIC history and a Horizon League record. As a senior, he averaged 9.3 points, 5.6 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game.
After going undrafted in 2018, Odiase played for Iberostar Tenerife in Spain, Lavrio in Greece, and the Greensboro Swarm in the NBA G League. He then had stints with BG Göttingen and EWE Baskets Oldenburg in Germany, Germani Brescia in Italy, Prometey in the Latvian-Estonian League, and Bahçeşehir Koleji in Turkey. He signed with Hapoel Tel Aviv in 2025. In August 2024, the Puerto Rican Basketball Federation approved the naturalization process for Odiase so he can represent Puerto Rico internationally. He also joined the Phoenix Suns for the NBA Summer League in 2018.
This page was last edited on 3 February 2026, at 17:11 (CET).