LA Clippers on X article
LA Clippers on X
INGLEWOOD, Calif. - The Los Angeles Clippers chose size in selecting former Penn State big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser in the 2025 NBA Draft.
What we know:
The Clippers chose the Swiss 7-footer in the first round, pick No. 30.
Konan Niederhauser played professionally in German as a teenager before heading to the United States in 2022 to play college hoops.
By the numbers:
Konan Niederhauser spent two seasons with Northern Illinois before transferring to Penn State for the 2024-2025 season. With the Nittany Lions for his junior year of college, Konan Niederhauser averaged 12.9 points per game with 6.3 rebounds per game and 2.3 blocks per game.
Konan Niederhauser will join superstars Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, in addition to breakout stars in the likes of Norman Powell and Ivica Zubac, for the 2025-2026 NBA season.
Los Angeles got the 30th pick via the Oklahoma City Thunder in a pick swap from the infamous Paul George trade in 2019 that eventually led to the Thunder winning it all over the weekend and the Clippers failing to make a single NBA Finals appearance post-COVID. In the 2019 trade, the Clippers landed George in exchange for 2025 NBA season and Finals MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, five first-round draft picks and two first-round pick swaps.
Not only is George no longer on the team, the Clippers could have certainly used Gilgeous-Alexander's now-superstar play, but those five draft picks led to Thunder getting SGA's main sidekick Jalen Williams, who ended up becoming a 2025 NBA All-Star and making all-NBA. Oklahoma City also has the ability to swap pick spots in the 2026 NBA Draft, should they end up in a better spot than the Clippers at the end of next season.
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