Oscar Tshiebwe to undergo minor knee procedure; "Not a big deal," says Calipari

Oscar Tshiebwe, bench — Photo by Dr. Michael Huang | Kentucky Sports Radio

Kentucky star center Oscar Tshiebwe will undergo a minor knee procedure, one John Calipari says is “not a big deal” and will take just 15 minutes to complete.

The clean-up procedure comes after UK’s Pro Day on Sunday, where Tshiebwe played through the pain and put forth an “unbelievable performance” in front of NBA scouts in attendance. With all 30 NBA teams — as many as three per franchise — the feedback was overwhelmingly positive.

“I have good news and bad news,” Calipari announced on Twitter. “Good news is Oscar had an unbelievable performance at Pro Day and the scouts loved what they saw. He came back to develop his game and become a more complete player and that’s exactly what he displayed Sunday night. They loved it.

“Bad news is I kept him out of practice Sat. with knee stuff. He refused to sit out Pro Day and balled out. I made him sit out Mon. and get examined as a precaution. He’s going to have a minor 15-minute procedure to clean some things up.”

It’s not expected to keep him out of game action, but don’t expect to see Tshiebwe doing the John Wall Dance at Big Blue Madness on Friday.

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“Not a big deal, but no dancing at Madness!” Calipari said.

When you’re at Kentucky, there’s just some things you have to know!@Adou_Thiero made sure @Oscartshiebwe34 wasn’t left behind 😂 pic.twitter.com/63zcla3gA2
— Kentucky Men’s Basketball (@KentuckyMBB) October 7, 2022

Just how minor is the procedure? So minor that the Kentucky superstar was out riding his bike on campus on Tuesday.

☑️ Wooden Award
☑️ Naismith Award
☑️ Oscar Robertson Award
☑️ AP Player of the Year
☑️ Sporting News Player of the Year
☑️ NABC Player of the Year
◻️ Tour de France???? pic.twitter.com/MTb8tfkCr6
— TJ Beisner (@tjbeisner) October 11, 2022

As a junior in 2020-21, Tshiebwe led Kentucky in scoring (17.4 PPG), rebounding (15.1 RPG), steals (1.8 SPG), and blocks (1.6 BPG), earning consensus National Player of the Year honors along the way. He had 10+ rebounds in all but two games and finished the season with 28 double-doubles, a new Kentucky basketball single-season record.

Back for his senior campaign, the 6-foot-9 center has his eyes on No. 9.

“Number nine — I have a dream for number nine,” Tshiebwe told KSR in the Bahamas. “I’ve already collected so many trophies, I have no more room for trophies. So right now, I just want something for my school, number nine. If we get number nine, it’ll make my dream come true. I cannot let anything mess that up.”

Certainly not letting a clean-up knee procedure get in the way.

“It’s in my head,” Tshiebwe added. “Even on my shoes, I put number nine because I love the number. If we get number nine, I will accomplish my dream playing basketball. That’s the reason I decided to come back. … If you go to my room, I put number nine everywhere. It’s so every time I look at the number, I can say, ‘I cannot skip a day for this number. I’ve got to go work for this number.’”

(Very) minor setback for a major comeback.