MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — After a season that saw Oscar Tshiebwe lead West Virginia in both scoring and rebounding, the 6-foot-9 freshman forward announced Wednesday he was going to test the waters and enter the 2020 NBA Draft.
Through his Twitter account, Tshiebwe said he was keeping his options open for a return to WVU next season.
“I want to thank the WVU community, the coaching staff and my teammates for the immeasurable lessons and guidance they taught me this past year,” Tshiebwe tweeted. “With that being said, I have decided to chase my dreams and enter my name into the 2020 NBA Draft with the possibility of returning to college next year.”
As part of the process in keeping his options to return, Tshiebwe must submit a request for an evaluation from the NBA Undergraduate Advisory Committee.
“Per NCAA rules, in order to gain feedback from people associated with the NBA, players are required to submit the necessary paperwork to request an evaluation,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said in a release. “Oscar plans to do this while leaving open his option to return.”
That evaluation comes from NBA scouts and general managers and will give a general projection of where Tshiebwe would be selected, if at all.
The NBA Draft is a two-round draft with 30 first-round and 30 second-round picks and is scheduled for June 25.
As for the rest of the process, Tshiebwe is permitted to sign with a certified NBA agent, but would have to end all dealings with the agent if he were to return to school.
As of now, the deadline to withdraw his name from the draft is June 3.
That is a tentative date, as is the entire 2020 pre-draft process, because of the coronavirus pandemic.
NBA teams are currently on lockdown and unable to conduct workouts with potential draft picks.
The NBA Combine — if there is one this year — is scheduled May 21-24 in Chicago. Players have to be invited to work out at the combine, with the NBA usually inviting the top 60-70 prospects each year.
The list of invited players is usually released in early May.
Tshiebwe became the first high school McDonald’s All-American to sign with the Mountaineers as a freshman since Chris Brooks in 1987.
He averaged 11.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game and was named to all-Big 12 second team and was a unanimous pick to the all-Big 12 Freshman team.
Last month, Jon Rothstein of CBS Sports tweeted that Huggins expected both Tshiebwe and Derek Culver to return to school.
In looking for conformation, Huggins told The Dominion Post it was “too soon” to make that official.
There is no official word on Culver’s status for next season, although he has until April 26 to make a decision.
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