Penn State basketball has its own representation in the NBA. There are currently six former Nittany Lions on an NBA squad and there are two others who are unrestricted free agents.
1. Jalen Pickett – Denver Nuggets
Pickett played for Penn State from 2021-2023 after transferring from Siena. His college career stats are 15.3 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.8 assists per game. Pickett became the only Division 1 men’s basketball player since the 1985-86 season to have tallied career marks of 2,000+ career points, 700+ career rebounds and 800+ career assists. In the 2023 NBA Draft, Pickett went to the Indiana Pacers in Round 2 with the 32nd overall pick. Indiana ended up trading his draft rights to the Denver Nuggets. This past season in his second career start, the former Nittany Lion recorded a triple-double against the San Antonio Spurs when he had 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists.
2. Seth Lundy – Los Angeles Clippers
Seth Lundy played for Penn State from 2019-2023. He finished his four-year college career by registering marks of 1,283 points (10.5 ppg), 560 rebounds (4.6 rpg) and 229 made three pointers. In his senior year, he averaged 14.2 ppg and 6.3 rpg which earned him honorable mention All-Big Ten. The 6′-4″ guard was then selected 46th overall in the second round of the Draft by the Atlanta Hawks. He and Pickett, made history that night by being the first Nittany Lion teammates to be selected in the same NBA draft. ThenMarch 1, 2025, Lundy signed with the Los Angeles Clippers after being waived by the Hawks in December 2024.
3. Yanic Konan Niederhauser – Los Angeles Clippers
Yanic Konan Niederhauser made history at this year’s 2025 NBA Draft. The Swiss 7-footer became the first Nittany Lion basketball player to get drafted in the first round since the current two-round format started in 1989. Niederhauser went No. 30 to the Clippers in the last pick of the first round. Last year as a junior at Penn State, Niederhauser started 29 games. He averaged 12.9 ppg., 6.3 rebounds per game, and had a Big Ten-best 2.31 blocks per game. The 7-footer also shot an astounding 61.1% (143-234) from the field.
4. Ace Baldwin, Jr. – Memphis Grizzlies
Baldwin finished his stellar college career as just one of five Division 1 players since the 1947-48 season with 1,700+ points (1,716), 300+ career steals (342) and 800+ career assists (831). His 342 steals by the end of last season was tied for 15th-most all-time by an NCAA Division 1 player. He finished last season averaging 14 ppg, 7.1 apg and 2.37 spg. Baldwin transferred to Penn State from VCU ahead of the 2023-24 season.
Baldwin earned honors during his collegiate career being named two-time Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year (2024, 2025), two-time All-Big Ten selection (2024, 2025), three-time NABC All-District selection (2023, 2024, 2025), Atlantic 10 Player of the Year and Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year in 2023, and a two-time All-Atlantic 10 pick in 2022 and 2023.
Last month, Baldwin signed with Grizzlies for the NBA Summer League.
5. Zach Hicks – Boston Celtics
The versatile small forward from Camden, New Jersey started all 31 games during his senior year in 2024-25. He averaged 11.6 points, 5.0 rebounds, and 2.0 assists per game. Hicks also registered a phenomenal True Shooting Percentage (TS%) of 65.5% with more than 70% of his field goal attempts coming from three where he averaged 2.39 triples per game that ranked fourth-best in the Big Ten. He also registered 18 double-digit scoring games which led Penn State in scoring on five occasions. Hicks transferred to Penn State from Temple before the 2023-2024 season.
Last month, Hicks signed with the Celtics for the NBA Summer League.
6. Andrew Funk – Philadelphia 76ers
In Funk’s lone season as a Nittany Lion in 2022-2023, he averaged 12.5 ppg, scoring in double-digits in 25 games. He had a blistering career-high 44.4 field goal percentage and shot a phenomenal 41.2 percent from 3-point range. Funk was named honorable mention All-Big Ten after helping the Nittany Lions to the NCAA Tournament where they knocked off Texas A&M in the first round. Funked scored 27 points in the victory.
Add Nittany Sports Now as a preferred source in Google! Click here to add us.After spending time with the Denver Nuggets in 2023, Funk saw his first NBA playing time with the Chicago Bulls March 14, 2024. He then had another go-around with the Nuggets’ organization in October and has now signed with the Philadelphia 76ers for their summer league.
7. Lamar Stevens – Unrestricted Free Agent
Stevens played for Penn State from 2016-2020. He finished as the second all-time leading scorer for Penn State with 2,207 points. As a freshman, he started all 33 games for the Nittany Lions and was named Freshman of the Week multiple times. As a sophomore, Stevens averaged 15.5 points and 5.9 rebounds per game and helped PSU to a 26-13 record and a NIT Championship. As a junior, he averaged 19.9 points and 7.7 rebounds per game and was named to the All-Big Ten Conference first-team. By the end of Stevens’ senior season, he averaged 17.2 ppg and 4.5 rpg in 11 total postseason games and started in all 104 games of his collegiate career.
Stevens went undrafted in 2020. He then signed a contract with the Cleveland Cavaliers, which then led to a multi-year contract with Cleveland (2020-2023). After being traded to the San Antonio Spurs, he was waived eventually, but then picked up by the Boston Celtics (2023-2024). Stevens was then traded to the Memphis Grizzlies in February 2024 and then signed with the Detroit Pistons in September 2024. Then in February 2025, he signed back with the Grizzlies and scored a career-high 31 points against the Dallas Mavericks in the regular season finale.
Stevens is currently an unrestricted free agent.
8. Josh Reaves – Unrestricted Free Agent
Josh Reaves played for Penn State from 2015-2019. He started in 20 games as a freshman and averaged 6.4 ppg, 3.6 rpg and 1.3 spg. As a sophomore, Reaves averaged 7.7 ppg and 4 rpg and led the Big Ten with 2.14 steals per game. As a junior, he improved even more and averaged 10.6 ppg, 5.1 rpg, 3.2 apg and for the second straight year led the Big Ten in steals with 2.18 per game and was named the Big Ten Defensive Player of the Year. After finishing his senior year, Reaves had career totals of 1,079 points, 540 rebounds, 310 assists, 92 blocked shots and set a Penn State record of 250 steals.
Reaves went undrafted in the 2019 NBA draft, but signed a contract with the Dallas Mavericks Summer League roster. In five games, he averaged 12.6 points, 4.8 rebounds, 2.4 assists, 1.2 steals and 1 block per game. He made his NBA debut against the Brooklyn Nets and then saw action against the Utah Jazz where Reaves made his first career field goal, rebound, and assist. After playing for a few teams overseas, Reaves made it back to the States where he most currently played for the Houston Rockets affiliated Rio Grande Valley Vipers of the NBA G League.
