The Houston Rockets continue to fill out their roster before the start of the 2026-2027 NBA season, as it was announced today that they have signed free agent forward/center Oscar Tshiebwe.
The 6’8”
big man from the Congo went to high school in Pennsylvania and was a four-star recruit heading into college. He played for both West Virginia University and later Kentucky, where he was named the Sporting News National Player of the Year and the Southeastern Conference Player of the Year in 2022.
He went undrafted but later signed two-way deals with the Indiana Pacers and Utah Jazz. His best season in the NBA came in the 2024-2025 season, when he averaged 7.6 points and 8.7 boards in 18.2 minutes per night for Utah.
He’s also been a monster in the G League, averaging 15.4 points and 17.3 rebounds across 64 G League games. Those are some serious rebounding numbers at that level.
He’s obviously great on the boards, fitting in the Ime Udoka mold, as well as a rugged defender and a strong inside finisher, however, he is more of a traditional big man than a modern one, in that he doesn’t shoot threes and has limited switching ability onto perimeter players.
The terms of Tshiebwe’s contract have not yet been released, but it could be a two-way or exhibit 10, which gives the Rockets the chance to convert his contract to a standard one.
And it seems that he could be on board as Steven Adams insurance. Adams was Houston’s best rebounder last season and one of the keys to their second-chance offensive philosophy (if you can call it that), and when he went down, the team suffered in multiple ways. And then it appeared that Clint Capela was no longer able to fill that role for an extended period. Tshiebwe could also be a replacement for Clint Capela. Now Capela signed a three-year, fully-guaranteed deal before last season, but the team could include him in trade talks if they are looking to move on from Capela.
Either way, this player is an Ime guy through and through, and I’ll let you all decided if that is a good thing or a bad thing. Welcome aboard.
