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Hoops history: How many times has PSU had multiple players in NBA at same time?

John Amaechi

This was a fun project. With Tim Frazier now back in the NBA on a 10-day contract and Lamar Stevens currently playing in the league, I wondered: How many times has Penn State had multiple players on active NBA rosters at the same time throughout the league’s history?

The answer: Not many.

And the MOST players Penn State has ever had in the NBA at the same time?

Again, not many (I’ll give you that answer in a bit).

All told, there have been only 15 Penn State players who made it to the NBA. That includes two who played in the late 1940s in the old Basketball Association of America, which later became part of the NBA and is recognized by the league as part of its history.

These are the 15 PSU players who made it to the NBA, according to Basketball Reference:

**John Amaechi (1996-2003)

**Jesse Arnelle (1956)

**Chris Babb (2014)

**Herschel Baltimore (1947 in BAA)

**John Barr (1947 in BAA)

**Calvin Booth (2000-09)

**Frank Brickowski (1985-97)

**Joe Crispin (2002)

**Tim Frazier (2015-21)

**Tom Hovasse (1995)

**Mike Iuzzolino (1992-93)

**Josh Reaves (2020)

**Lamar Stevens (2021)

**Whitey Von Nieda (1950)

**Bob Weiss (1966-77)

OK, so that’s the full list of players who made it. They have been pretty spread out, with a few exceptions, so it wasn’t too difficult putting the following list together of players who were active in the NBA at the same times.

In compiling this list, I went back to make sure that players who were in the league in the same season actually were on active rosters and playing at the same time periods.

So, following is the entire list of the number of times it has occurred. The season is listed for each occasion:

**1946-47: Herschel Baltimore and John Barr both were on active Basketball Association of America rosters

**1991-92, 1992-93: Frank Brickowski and Mike Iuzzolino (who began his career at PSU before transferring to Saint Francis and becoming a legend there)

**Special note on one instance that doesn’t count: 1994-95: Frank Brickowski had a shoulder injury and did not play this season. Tom Hovasse appeared in two games. But they were not active at the same time.

**1995-96: Frank Brickowski and John Amaechi (the latter played this season in the NBA, then played overseas the next three years before returning in 1999)

**1999-00, 2000-01, 2001-02, 2002-03: John Amaechi and Calvin Booth

**2001-02: Calvin Booth, John Amaechi, Joe Crispin

**2019-20: Tim Frazier and Josh Reaves

**2020-21: Tim Frazier and Lamar Stevens

Alright, as you can see, only ONE TIME ever has there been three former Penn State players on active NBA rosters at the same time, occurring in the 2001-02 season with Booth, Amaechi and Crispin.

Also, as you can see, there was a long, long time between instances of two players occurring after Amaechi and Booth were in the NBA together in 2002-03. It didn’t happen again until Josh Reaves played four games in 2019-20 at the same time Frazier was active.

Frazier appeared in three games earlier this season for the Memphis Grizzlies, at the same time Stevens was active with the Cleveland Cavaliers. Frazier will be back active again in a few days after signing his 10-day contract.

Hopefully you enjoyed my list. If anything, all of this shows just how rare it has been for a Penn State player to get to the NBA, and how getting multiple guys there at the same time has been extremely rare.

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