{"id":701326,"date":"2026-04-06T12:39:20","date_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:39:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/701326\/"},"modified":"2026-04-06T12:39:20","modified_gmt":"2026-04-06T12:39:20","slug":"ole-miss-basketball-star-earns-major-nba-honor-after-strong-rookie-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/701326\/","title":{"rendered":"Ole Miss Basketball Star Earns Major NBA Honor After Strong Rookie Campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"<p id=\"inline-text-0\" class=\"mt-[18px] md:mt-0 mb-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5i\">SAN DIEGO \u2013 Currently on a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Clippers, former Ole Miss men&#8217;s basketball guard Sean Pedulla has been selected as the 2025-26 Kia NBA G League Rookie of the Year, the league announced last week.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-1\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5l\">In just his first season of professional basketball, Pedulla&#8217;s success from college has quickly been on display within the NBA ranks. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-2\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5o\">Following a stint with the Portland Trailblazers during the NBA Summer League, he played 22 games with their G League affiliate, the Rip City Remix, where he averaged 23.5 points, 5.2 rebounds, and 6.9 assists per game.  <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-3\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5r\">He posted five double-doubles, scoring 30 or more points seven times including a season-high 46 in early February.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-4\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5u\">His game attracted the attention of the Los Angeles Clippers, who signed him to a two-way contract on February 19. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-5\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"5x\">Pedulla made his NBA debut on March 11 against the Minnesota Timberwolves, where he scored six points by hitting a pair of three pointers, dishing out three assists and grabbing his first NBA rebound. He has since seen action in three additional games, most recently on March 25 against the Toronto Raptors. <\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The 2025-26 <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/nbagleague?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@nbagleague<\/a> Rookie of the Year, Sean Pedulla \ud83e\udd29 <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/Y6Z5jlYVJC\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/Y6Z5jlYVJC<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 LA Clippers (@LAClippers) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/LAClippers\/status\/2039853210052284549?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 2, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-7\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"63\">In total, his 23.6 points per game in G League action led all rookies and ranked ninth overall.<\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-8\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"66\">During the 2024-25 season, Pedulla helped lead Ole Miss to one of the most successful seasons in program history, matching the school&#8217;s best run in the postseason as they reached the Sweet 16 of the 2025 NCAA Tournament. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-9\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"69\">He earned all-SEC honors, leading the team in scoring at 15.4 points per game while making 87 threes (eighth-most in a season in school history) and adding 68 steals (fifth-most in a season in school history). <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-10\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6c\">Pedulla was a third-team All-SEC selection last year as a senior at Ole Miss with high scoring totals along with 3.8 assists, 3.5 rebounds and 1.9 steals on 39.2% shooting from 3-point range. <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-11\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6f\">The talented bucket-getter quickly translated his game to the next level where Pedulla made an impact in the NBA G-League &#8211; now taking home another presitigious accoalde.<\/p>\n<p>More Ole Miss News: <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-13\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6l\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/olemiss\/football\/ole-miss-football-wide-receiver-earns-unique-nfl-comparison-ahead-of-2026-draft-01kmgebk091r\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ole Miss Football Wide Receiver Earns Unique NFL Comparison Ahead of 2026 Draft<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-14\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6o\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/olemiss\/baseball\/ole-miss-baseball-skyrockets-in-rankings-after-series-win-over-kentucky-wildcats-01kme29xk6wm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ole Miss Baseball Skyrockets in Rankings After Series Win Over Kentucky Wildcats<\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-15\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6r\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.si.com\/college\/olemiss\/recruiting\/ole-miss-football-recruiting-buzz-rebels-poised-for-massive-run-of-commitments-01kk7m3111nr\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\">Ole Miss Football Recruiting Buzz: Rebels Poised for Massive Run of Commitments<\/a><\/p>\n<p>Join the Community: <\/p>\n<p id=\"inline-text-17\" class=\"my-[18px] [&amp;_a]:text-secondary my-f-1.5\" q:key=\"0\" q:id=\"6x\">Follow Zack Nagy on Twitter:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/znagy20\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">@znagy20\u00a0<\/a>and Ole Miss Rebels On SI:\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/x.com\/OleMissOnSI\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow\">@OleMissOnSI\u00a0<\/a>for all coverage surrounding the Ole Miss program.<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN DIEGO \u2013 Currently on a two-way contract with the Los Angeles Clippers, former Ole Miss men&#8217;s basketball&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":701327,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3789],"tags":[7,559,4034,192,4032,251,135,4033,4031,6],"class_list":{"0":"post-701326","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-los-angeles-clippers","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-clippers","10":"tag-la","11":"tag-la-clippers","12":"tag-laclippers","13":"tag-los-angeles","14":"tag-los-angeles-clippers","15":"tag-losangeles","16":"tag-losangelesclippers","17":"tag-nba"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116357809620592427","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701326","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=701326"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/701326\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/701327"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=701326"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=701326"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=701326"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}