Happy Valley to the league!

Former Penn State men’s basketball center Yanic Konan Niederhauser was selected by the Los Angeles Clippers in the first round with the No. 30 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft.

With the No. 30 overall pick in the 2025 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Clippers select…Yanic Konan Niederhauser! pic.twitter.com/bdXt4xAr23

— Onward State (@OnwardState) June 26, 2025

Konan Niderhauser is the first-ever first-round draft pick out of Penn State in program history.

Konan Niederhauser is the first Nittany Lion to hear his name called on draft night since Jalen Pickett and Seth Lundy were both drafted in the second round of the 2023 NBA Draft. Philadelphia product and point guard Tony Carr (2018) was the only player drafted in the 21st century before Pickett and Lundy.

The Fraschels, Switzerland, native spent one season with Mike Rhoades and the Nittany Lions, averaging 12.9 points, 6.3 rebounds, and a Big Ten-best 2.3 blocks per game. Konan Niederhauser led the blue and white in scoring seven different times and recorded four double-double performances last year.

Konan Niederhauser was named an All-Big Ten Honorable Mention by the media in March for his performance in his junior season while repping the blue and white. The forward shined in a late-season matchup at Wisconsin with 15 points, a game-high 11 rebounds, and five blocks to help lead Penn State to its first road win at Wisconsin in 30 years and its highest-ranked road win since 2009.

Before arriving in State College, Konan Niederhauser played high school ball with the German club team Ehingen Urspring in 2021-22. The seven-footer committed to Northern Illinois after high school and spent two seasons with the Huskies. As a sophomore, the Swiss national started in 26 games, averaging 7.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game.

After his junior season campaign, Konan Niederhauser opted to enter the 2025 NBA Draft following his lone season with the blue and white. After a long pre-draft process and a relatively quiet offseason for Rhoades and his staff, the big man decided to stay in the draft.

Konan Niederhauser improved his draft stock among many NBA scouts while going through the draft process. The seven-footer showcased his athleticism and wide range of skills at the NBA Draft Combine in May. A majority of mock drafts had the Nittany Lion star landing in the early second round of the 2025 NBA Draft.

This is the first player drafted into the NBA during Rhoades’ tenure in Happy Valley, with the hope that Konan Niederhauer’s selection sparks some momentum for the staff to build on heading into the coming years. Rhoades’ first two seasons in State College have ended with average results in the Big Ten.

After losing Puff Johnson, Zach Hicks, Nick Kern Jr., D’Marco Dunn, and Ace Baldwin Jr. to graduation and Konan Niederhauser to the draft, among others to the transfer portal, leaves expectations low for Rhoades and the Nittany Lions heading into the 2025-26 season.