Rookie big man Ąžuolas Tubelis officially signed a two-way contract with the 76ers.
The Sixers previously added a pair of two-way contract players in Ricky Council IV and Terquavion Smith. All three players are eligible to play for both the Sixers and the NBA G League’s Delaware Blue Coats under these contracts. New this year, NBA teams can carry three two-way players after previously being limited to two such players.
Learn more about Tubelis, the latest two-way signee…
- Ąžuolas (“Ah-ZJEW-liss”) Tubelis (“Two-BELL-us”) is from Vilnius, Lithuania.
- Tubelis, who stands 6-foot-11, played 97 career college games (89 starts) for the University of Arizona.
- In 35 games last season (34 starts), Tubelis was a consensus second team All-American with career-high averages of 19.8 points and 9.1 rebounds in 30.1 minutes per contest. He shot 57-percent from the field for the season and a career-best .764 (136-178) at the free throw line.
- The two-time First Team All-Pac-12 performer became just the seventh player in conference history to lead the league in both scoring and rebounding.
- On Feb. 2 against Oregon, Tubelis posted a career-high 40 points (16-21 fg, 8-9 ft) on top of nine rebounds, three assists, three steals, and a block.
- Ąžuolas’ twin brother, Tautvilas, was his teammate at Arizona.
- Ąžuolas Tubelis was the leading scorer and rebounder for Lithuania at both the U16 and U18 FIBA European Championships.
“He asked me if I know [former Arizona teammate] Christian Koloko,” Tubelis said recently about his new head coach in Philadelphia, Nick Nurse. “He was [Koloko’s] coach in Toronto, so it’s good to have some kind of connection. He’s a great coach. First impression is very good. The highest level. Everything is clear and very easy to understand.
“He’s very serious,” Tubelis also said of Nurse with a smile. “Sometimes he says something and then he just smiles and looks at me, so I smile too.”