Penn State Sports Magazine
Issue link: https://comanpub.uberflip.com/i/1503568
1 2 A U G U S T 2 0 2 3 W W W . B L U E W H I T E O N L I N E . C O M It's been an uncharacteristically busy summer for Penn State on the profes- sional basketball front. The Nittany Lions had two of their own drafted in June, and another alum saw the team he helped assemble win the league championship. The draftees were guard Jalen Pickett and forward Seth Lundy, both of whom heard their names called in the second round on June 22 in New York. Pickett, a second-team All-Ameri- can this past season, went to the NBA champion Denver Nuggets with the 32nd overall pick in the draft. Lundy, a small forward who finished his career ranked sixth in school history with 229 three- pointers, was chosen with the 46th over- all pick by the Atlanta Hawks. Their selections marked the first time Penn State had two players selected in the same draft. Pickett and Lundy were the first Nittany Lions to be drafted since 2018 when guard Tony Carr was chosen in the second round by the New Orleans Pelicans. Prior to Carr's selec- tion, it had been nearly two decades since a Penn State player was drafted. That player was center Calvin Booth, chosen by the Washington Wizards in 1999. Booth went on to play 10 NBA seasons with six teams, but he's had a big- ger impact in the front office than he had on the court. The former Big Ten Defen- sive Player of the Year has been serving as the Nuggets' general manager for the past three years, and on June 12 his team finished off Miami in five games to claim the franchise's first NBA championship. There could be as many as four Penn State players in the NBA next season. In addition to Pickett and Lundy, guard Andrew Funk is getting a shot at mak- ing a roster. Funk, who led the Big Ten in three-point shooting percentage (41.2) in his lone season at PSU, signed a Sum- mer League deal with Denver in June. In addition, former PSU forward La- mar Stevens is still in the league, albeit with a new team. After spending the past three seasons with the Cleveland Cava- liers, Stevens was traded to San Antonio in early July as part of a three-team sign- and-trade agreement primarily aimed at sending guard Max Strus to Cleveland. Although he went undrafted after his four-year college career, Stevens signed a two-way contract with the Cavaliers and made his NBA debut in December 2020. He ended up playing in 40 contests during the 2020-2021 season, averaging 4 points and 2.4 rebounds in 12 minutes per game. Stevens has steadily seen his playing time rise over the past two seasons, aver- aging 16 minutes in 2021-22 and 18 min- utes in 2022-23. For his career, he's averag- ing 5.3 points per game and 2.8 rebounds. Stevens was the only former Penn State player in the NBA during the 2022- 23 season. Former guard Tim Frazier spent eight years in the league before moving to France this past season to play for Strasbourg. — Ryan Snyder PENN STATERS IN THE NBA DRAFT Year Player Pos. Rd. Pick Team 2023 Jalen Pickett G 2 32 Denver Nuggets 2023 Seth Lundy G/F 2 46 Atlanta Hawks 2018 Tony Carr G 2 51 New Orleans Pelicans 1999 Calvin Booth C 2 35 Washington Wizards 1984 Dick Mumma C 10 211 Los Angeles Clippers 1983 Mike Lang C 8 174 New York Knicks 1981 Frank Brickowski F 3 57 New York Knicks 1974 Ron Brown G 7 125 Boston Celtics 1967 Paul Mickey C 14 142 Washington Bullets 1966 Carver Clinton G 11 97 Chicago Bulls 1965 Bob Weiss G 3 22 Philadelphia 76ers 1961 Peter Baltic G 9 79 Detroit Pistons 1955 Jesse Arnelle F 2 13 Fort Wayne Pistons 1953 Herman Sledzik F 7 54 Baltimore Bullets 1947 John Rusinko F 3 30 Baltimore Bullets Pickett, Lundy Combine To Make PSU Basketball History JOE KRENTZMAN & SON, INC. • Buyers and Brokers of Steel, Iron and Nonferrous Metals • Industrial Scrap Buyers • Container Service Available • Large Service Territory Since 1903 Lewistown, PA • Hollidaysburg, PA • DuBois, PA (800) 543-2000 • www.krentzman.net F irst i n S cra p