The John R. Wooden Award will celebrate it’s 50th anniversary this season. Leading up to the award ceremony on April 10, 2026, The Sporting Tribune in partnership with the Wooden Award and the Los Angeles Athletic Club will highlight past winners of the Wooden Award and the Legends of Coaching Award.
The international flavor of college and professional basketball has grown over the years and forward Oscar Tshiebwe has been right in the thick of it.
Born November 27, 1999 in Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo, Tshiebwe, like many of his foreign contemporaries, grew up excelling at soccer as child but was encouraged to give basketball a try due to his above-average height. He trained by running on hills and a mountain near his hometown.
Tshiebwe did not start playing basketball until the summer of 2014, and a year later moved to the United States for his freshman year of high school at Mountain Mission School in Grundy, Virginia.
In his junior year, he transferred to Kennedy Catholic High School in Hermitage, Pennsylvania where he averaged 21.1 points per game and led the Eagles to a Pennsylvania Interscholastic Athletic Association (PIAA) Class 1A title while earning First Team All-State honors.
In his senior season, Tshiebwe averaged 23.4 points, 18 rebounds, and five blocks per game, leading Kennedy Catholic to a 24–3 record and the PIAA Class 6A championship. He was again a First Team All-State selection and was named Pennsylvania Gatorade Player of the Year and played in the McDonald's All-American and Nike Hoop Summit games.
At 6-8, 230, he was tabbed a five-star recruit by Rivals and 247Sports and a four-star recruit by ESPN, and in the fall of 2018, he committed to play collegiately for the West Virginia University Mountaineers.
By the conclusion of his first collegiate season, Tshiebwe was named to the Second Team All-Big 12 and the All-Newcomer teams while posting 11.2 points on 55percent shooting, and 9.3 rebounds per game.
As a sophomore Tshiebwe averaged 8.5 points and 7.8 rebounds through 10 games before leaving the program for personal reasons, and in January 2021 he transferred to the University of Kentucky after considering Miami, North Carolina State and Illinois.
At the close of his junior season (2021-22) Tshiebwe was named the Sporting News National Player of the Year, as well as the unanimous Southeastern Conference Player of the Year while posting 17.4 points on 61 percent shooting, and 15.2 rebounds per contest, becoming the first Division I player since 1979-80 to average 15 and 15 or better. More impressively he was named the John R. Wooden Men's College Player of the Year, recognizing him as the nation's top player that season.
“I think the reason was because I really went through a lot,” he said when asked how he improved to the point of earning the national honor. “And I knew who I was because I’m a hard worker. I can work and I can show people what I can do by trusting in God. I just work harder and believe that people, God has put me in their hands to help me.”
Tshiebwe’s senior college season (2022-23) at Kentucky was another dominant year, as he netted 16.5 points and 13.7 rebounds over 32 games. By the time his final season was said and done he was named a consensus Second Team All-American.
After going undrafted in the 2023 NBA draft, Tshiebwe joined the Indiana Pacers for the 2023 NBA Summer League and in July 2023 he signed a two-way contract with the Pacers, splitting time with their NBA G League affiliate, the Indiana Mad Ants. That December he made his NBA debut in the 2023 NBA In-Season Tournament championship game against the Los Angeles Lakers.
In February 2024, Tshiebwe was selected to the 2024 NBA G League Next Up Game, and he also participated in the 2024 NBA Rising Stars Challenge at All-Star Weekend. Finally, in April 2024, he garnered the NBA G League Rookie of the Year Award after setting a new NBA G League single-season rebounding record with 16.2 boards per game.
He also recorded 27 double-doubles, seven games with 20-plus points and 20-plus rebounds, broke the record for most rebounds collected in an Indiana Mad Ants season, and broke the Mad Ants record for most rebounds in a game with 28. He was also selected to the All-NBA G League First Team.
In August 2024, Tshiebwe signed a two-way contract with the Utah Jazz/Salt Lake City Stars where he currently still plays.