This past summer, former Penn State basketball standout, Yanic Konan Niederhauser made his NBA debut with the Los Angeles Clippers in the NBA Summer League.
The Clippers played their five summer league games inside the UNLV’s Thomas & Mack Center.
Niederhauser showed why he was a first-round pick.
The Swiss 7-footer played in the first three games, but a lower back injury kept him out of the final two. In the 3 games played, Niederhauser didn’t disappoint. He averaged 4.3 PPG., 5 RPG., 1.6 BPG. and 2 SPG. in only 23 minutes played per contest. His best game was against the Lakers where he scored 10 points on 5/9 shooting and added two rebounds and two steals in 23 minutes played. His other two games were against the Rockets and the Bucks. Against Houston, Niederhauser scored a point, grabbed 10 rebounds, two steals, and had four blocks. Against Milwaukee, he registered two points with his first NBA field goal being an alley-oop slam dunk, pulled down three rebounds, had two steals and a swat.
After his impressive showing against the Lakers, Clippers assistant and Summer League coach Jeremy Castleberry said of Niederhauser,
“He just sticks with it. No matter if it’s going good or bad, he sticks with it. He’s trying his best to do everything we ask him to do. And just like I said after the last game, he continues to get better. From the last game [against the Bucks] to this game [against the Lakers], he was a little bit better than he was last game. He’s getting the dunks, catching the basketball, finishing it, being a rim-protector, consistently running the floor. Like, you can see the progress.”
Neiderhauser made Penn State basketball history June 25 when he became the first Penn State basketball player to be selected in the first round. He is the highest-drafted Nittany Lion in the modern era of the draft and the 16th overall NBA Draft pick from Penn State.
