As the NBA season gets underway Penn State is being represented on the court and in front offices. Lamar Stevens will be in his third season playing for the Cleveland Cavaliers. Calvin Booth will be in his third season as the general manager of the Denver Nuggets, and first as President of Basketball Operations. Finally, Andrew Jones will enter his second season as the assistant coach for player development for the Detroit Pistons.
Stevens is a 6-foot-6 small forward from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who was a two-time First-team All-Big Ten in 2019 and 2020. He helped lead Penn State to the NIT Championship in 2018.
Stevens finished seven points shy of the career scoring record for Penn State men’s basketball. A record that he would have set if it were not for the COVID-19 pandemic that cut short the 2020 college basketball season.
Stevens played 63 games and started 13 games for the Cavaliers last season, averaging 6.1 points and 2.6 rebounds. He signed a multi-year contract extension with the Cavaliers this offseason.
Booth is entering his third season as the general manager, and after Tim Connelly departed to become the President of Basketball Operations for the Minnesota Timberwolves, he assumed the same position with the Nuggets. The Nuggets have made the playoffs in each of the last four seasons with Booth in the organization.
Booth was a 6-foot-10 center from Reynoldsburg, Ohio, who led the Big Ten in blocked shots in all four years he was at Penn State and won the 1998 Big Ten Defensive Player of the Award. Booth became the highest-drafted NBA player in school history when he was drafted 35th overall by the Washington Wizards in the 1999 Draft. He went on to play ten seasons for six teams.
Jones will be working on helping the young core of Cade Cunningham, Saddiq Bey, Jaden Ivey, and Isaiah Stewart. He previously served as a Player development coach for the Philadelphia 76ers from 2019-21 and was the player development coach for the Oklahoma City Thunder from 2014-1019. He helped with the development of Matisse Thybelle and Tyrese Maxey. Jones also helped Russel Westbrook win the NBA Most Valuable Player in 2017 after the departure of Kevin Durant.
Jones. was a 6-foot-10 center from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who was a key component to Penn State winning the 2009 NIT Championship averaging 10 points and over eight rebounds in their run to its championship.
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