Kentucky Wildcats basketball player, Oscar Tshiebwe, saw a window of opportunity and took it.

While spending some time in the Bahamas alongside his teammates, Tshiebwe dove head first into the name, image, and likeness (NIL) game.

Tshiebwe, who was born outside of the United States, has been playing with a student visa. Therefore, it has been difficult for Oscar Tshiebwe to participate in NIL deals throughout the country. Fortunately, during the week-long trip that was not the case.

His first call when he landed was to his agent asking, “Where do you need me?”

“He can’t do this stuff in the States,” Kentucky Wildcats head coach, John Calipari said, according to The Athletic. “Oscar, you weren’t there today, but we all get why you’re doing what you’re doing.”

“He’s getting rich,” Point guard Sahvir Wheeler added.

 

"God Opened A Door"

Tshiebwe is seizing every opportunity such as photo shoots, ad reads, and merchandise signings. Additionally, he has about 2,000 Topps trading cards and more memorabilia to sign before the completion of his trip.

According to the outlet, Conley didn’t confirm any specific numbers but “he acknowledged that Tshiebwe will be well into six figures this week.”

“God opened a door,” Tshiebwe told The Atlantic. “I feel lucky, because I don’t get this often.”

What Could Be On The Horizon

Tshiebwe’s time in paradise may continue.

His agent, Nate Conley, and startup company Influxer are looking into other ways to keep his momentum in the NIL space alive. They plan to switch Tshiebwe’s student status to a type issued to international celebrities.

By doing this, the various constraints of his current status would be lifted.

“He could probably double that, at least,” Conley said, according to reports. “We have people who want him to come do speaking engagements, and I would say his price would start at $10,000 or $15,000. There’s probably 50 requests in my inbox, and he hasn’t been able to do one. It’s, ‘Sorry, we can’t do this right now until it changes.’”

Conley added: “We’ve been lucky to have the support of companies still wanting to be involved with him, and we’ve had to be creative in how we accomplish the deliverables, but unfortunately his hands are still tied unless he’s out of the country. That’s why it has been so nice to come here and not have to work around visa restrictions and let him actually get to actively participate in the experience. Trust me, he’ll get down that water slide once or twice before we leave, but he understands the opportunity he has here. He’s happy to work.”