Pacific Notes: Maluach, Kennard, Curry, Niederhauser
Although they re-signed Mark Williams to a three-year deal earlier this month, the development of second-year center Khaman Maluach is one of the most important factors for the Suns‘ long-term outlook. The big man out of South Sudan knows that it’s on him to spearhead his growth and is looking to some of the greats of the era to help propel him forward in his journey, starting with four-time Defensive Player of the Year Rudy Gobert.
“I reached out to Rudy and I asked him how he keeps up with his body,” Maluach said recently, per Hayden Ciley of Clutch Points (Twitter video link). “What he does throughout the whole summer, and just really learn from him and have something to take away from him.
Maluach recognizes that he needs to get stronger and said that he has been in the weight room all summer in addition to reaching out to veterans to get their insight.
The young center’s Summer League performance has been very encouraging, as he posted double-doubles in all four games while averaging 19.5 points per contest. Most importantly, he showed the skill that could be most important to his ability to carve out a major role next season, per Gerald Bourguet of AZ Central: his three-point shooting.
Maluach shot 8-for-20 from beyond the arc during those four games, displaying impressive consistency, confidence, and volume after only knocking down 23.8% of his shots from deep as a rookie. His ability to be a threat from outside could unlock potential two-big lineups that pair him with Oso Ighodaro, Bourguet notes.
We have more from around the Pacific Division:
- After giving up Grayson Allen and Royce O’Neale in a trade with the Hornets, the Suns had a clear need for a volume three-point shooter, which is where the recently signed Luke Kennard comes in, according to Duane Rankin of AZ Central. Allen made 41.0% of 6.6 three-point attempts per game in his three seasons with Phoenix, while O’Neale hit 40.7% over the past two years. While it will be tough for Kennard to fill the gap left by the duo, he has led the league in three-point percentage three different times and is coming off a playoff run with the Lakers that forced him to increase his aggression. For as good a shooter as he is, he tends not to offer as much volume as some of his counterparts, including Allen, who has attempted 506 more three-pointers over the last three years than Kennard.
- Last season was not the reunion with his brother that Seth Curry was hoping for when he signed with the Warriors. The injuries that limited him to just 10 games are still not fully in the rear view mirror, Will Simonds writes for NBC Sports, but the 35-year-old free agent would be open to a return to the Bay Area and a chance for a do-over. “I’m just trying to get completely healthy still, in the offseason and see what happens here in July and August with free agency,” Curry said last week. “A lot of turnover throughout the league with a lot of transactions. At this point in my career, just trying to find a perfect situation for me, and see what happens going forward this summer.”
- Yanic Konan Niederhauser was starting to find his rhythm with the Clippers last year before a right foot injury caused him to miss the end of the season. He’s still working his way back and missed this year’s Summer League while he continues to recover, but he feels that he has made encouraging progress, including adding significant muscle, writes Clippers beat writer Joey Linn (subscriber link). “I’ve been gaining weight, putting in as much work as I can and doing whatever I can do right now,” Niederhauser said. “Just controlling what I can control. I was 238 [pounds] when I got hurt, so that’s 27 pounds. Once I got hurt and heard I had to get surgery and everything, I started thinking, ‘What can I do now? What’s next?’ One thing was just to work to get heavier and stronger. That’s what I focused on the whole time because that’s what I could do.” He added that he’s feeling more confident in his jump shot and touch around the rim, and that the most disappointing part of missing Summer League was losing out on a chance to establish chemistry with top-five pick Keaton Wagler.
Nuggets Rumors: Watson, Joerger, Roddy, Diallo
Checking in on Peyton Watson‘s restricted free agency, Tony Jones of The Athletic confirms that the Bucks, Clippers, and Hawks are among the rival suitors with interest in the Nuggets wing, as previously reported. However, since each of those three teams is operating over the cap, a sign-and-trade deal would almost certainly be necessary for one of them to land Watson.
With that in mind, the Nuggets believe they’re in a good spot to retain Watson, according to Jones, who says Denver values the 23-year-old “significantly” and is comfortable letting the restricted free agency process play out. As we saw in 2025, when four of the top restricted free agents of the summer remained unsigned until September, that process can drag on if no team with cap room is prepared to put an offer sheet on the table.
We have more on the Nuggets:
- Denver is viewed as an “increasingly likely” landing spot for veteran NBA coach Dave Joerger, according to Marc Stein of The Stein Line (Substack link). Joerger, who has been an NBA assistant or head coach since 2007, interviewed in June for the lead assistant position on David Adelman‘s staff, as Stein previously reported. He has also drawn interest from Paris Basketball as the EuroLeague club seeks a new head coach, but BasketNews reported last week that Joerger is leaning toward staying in the NBA in an assistant role rather than making the move overseas.
- The Nuggets like forward David Roddy “a lot,” says Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports (Twitter video link), but he’s skeptical that the former Colorado State standout will be back with the team in 2026/27. After finishing his fourth NBA season on a two-way deal with Denver, Roddy is no longer eligible to sign a two-way contract going forward. Additionally, as Wind points out, the Nuggets’ frontcourt is already crowded, so if the club makes another roster addition outside of re-signing its restricted free agents, a guard may be the priority.
- In case you missed it, the Nuggets recently finalized their contract agreements with free agents Tyus Jones, Alpha Diallo, and Marvin Bagley III. All three players received guaranteed one-year, minimum-salary contracts, Hoops Rumors has confirmed. While Diallo’s cap hit ($1,357,763) comes in below that of Jones and Bagley ($2,449,421), Diallo also carries a $2,449,421 charge for tax and apron purposes, since “tax variance” applies to his rookie minimum deal.
And-Ones: Summer League, ESPN, Team USA, Rookies
The Rockets and Grizzlies will square off in one of the Las Vegas Summer League semifinals while the Warriors play the Lakers in the other, the NBA announced (via Twitter).
The Lakers were the only team to win all four of their games in Vegas so far, while Memphis, Houston, and Golden State advanced to the semifinals over several other 3-1 teams due to a stronger point differential.
The semifinals will take place at 6:30 pm and 8:30 pm Eastern time on Saturday, with the winners to meet in the championship game on Sunday at 9:00 pm ET. The NBA also announced the rest of the weekend schedule in Vegas, including five additional contests on Saturday and two more on Sunday.
Here are a few more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- NBA commissioner Adam Silver confirmed earlier this week that the league is hoping to launch a streaming hub for local game broadcasts for the 2027/28 season. According to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic (Twitter link), ESPN chairman Jimmy Pitaro said on Thursday at a CNBC/Boardroom event that his network is interested in partnering with the league on that venture. “We’ve made our intentions very clear with with every league, including the NBA, that we want to be part of the solution here,” Pitaro said, referring to teams who lost their regional sports networks when Main Street Sports Group went out of business.
- Team USA hasn’t won a medal at the FIBA World Cup since 2014, but USA Basketball men’s national team managing director Grant Hill is optimistic about ending that streak of futility at the 2027 event, according to Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “You got a lot of young guys who want to be a part of it, which is great,” Hill said. “It’s actually an exciting time. … We’ll be good. We will be big, we’ll be really good defensively. We’ll have shooting. … We’ll be fine. We’ll have an opportunity to win.”
- Zach Kram of ESPN shares his first impressions of the 2026 draft class based on their Summer League performances, noting that the top four picks all lived up to their pre-draft billing, while Bucks guard Brayden Burries and Warriors forward Yaxel Lendeborg were among the Vegas standouts outside of the top five.
- Fred Katz of The Athletic examines some of the situations around the NBA that may be resolved after LeBron James decides on his next team, including James Harden‘s, Draymond Green‘s, and DeMar DeRozan‘s free agencies. Katz also wonders if Peyton Watson‘s restricted free agency could end up in limbo until the Clippers and Raptors are able to move forward on their Kawhi Leonard trade, since the Clippers – one of the teams interested in signing-and-trading for Watson – could loop a potential deal for the Nuggets wing into that transaction.
Adam Silver Talks Clippers Probe, Second Apron, Expansion, More
Speaking to reporters in Las Vegas on Tuesday, NBA commissioner Adam Silver said he still expects the league’s investigation into Kawhi Leonard and the Clippers to conclude “this summer” and that he believes Wachtell Lipton – the law firm leading the probe – is in the final stages of the process, per Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca.
“My understanding is Wachtell is now in the process of going through the information they’ve gathered and drawing conclusions from it,” Silver said.
While the outcome of that investigation into possible salary cap circumvention has always been of interest to NBA fans and observers, it has become even more significant since the Raptors agreed to acquire Leonard from L.A. just over two weeks ago. That trade is on hold while the Raptors and Clippers wait for the investigation to conclude, prompting the commissioner to clarify on Tuesday that the league office didn’t make the decision to hold off on finalizing that deal.
“The league did not pause the trade,” Silver said, according to Ben Golliver of ESPN. “The parties to the trade made a decision not to go forward given that the investigation remained open. Any possible impact on Kawhi or his contract was yet to be known. They chose not to live with that uncertainty. That was well known before the trade was proposed. I don’t think there’s any reason for people to believe that the status of Kawhi Leonard would change merely because he was traded.”
Silver added that the teams were aware of the complications related to trading Leonard throughout the process and that “questions were asked and answered quickly by the league office,” according to Grange. For what it’s worth, Josh Lewenberg of TSN.ca (Twitter link) says his sense is that the only way the Raptors would back off on completing the trade is if Leonard’s contract were voided. Any other penalty, including a suspension, is something they’d likely be prepared to work around, Lewenberg says.
Here’s more from Silver’s press conference in Vegas:
- NBPA executive director David Kelly and president Fred VanVleet recently spoke about the union’s desire to revisit the rules related to the second tax apron, but Silver said on Tuesday that he thinks the system is working “incredibly well,” as Golliver relays. “The purpose of the system is ultimately to create competition throughout the league,” the commissioner said. “One of the things we were hoping to accomplish in this latest collective bargaining agreement was to dispel this notion that only certain markets were in a position to truly compete.”
- The NBA’s Board of Governors meeting this week included presentations about possible expansion to Seattle and Las Vegas, Golliver writes. However, no vote was taken and there’s still “a ways to go” before a final decision is made, per Silver, who said he expects resolution one way or the other by the end of the year. If the league moves forward with expansion, the plan would be to for the new team(s) to begin playing in the fall of 2028.
- The NBA is hoping to launch a streaming hub for local broadcasts (ie. a local League Pass) for the 2027/28 season, Silver said on Tuesday, per Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic. Main Street Sports Group, which operated regional broadcasts for 13 of the league’s 30 teams, went out of business this year, creating some uncertainty for ’26/27. “We’ll cobble together a series of solutions for this season, but I feel good that we’ll have something on a national basis for the following year,” Silver said.
- Silver offered a brief update on NBA Europe, telling reporters that things are where the league hoped they’d be at this point in the process and that more meetings will take place in the next week, with prospective ownership groups in the New York area for the upcoming World Cup final, writes Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press. “We’ve had tremendous interest from multiple cities in Europe, including cities that we didn’t ask for bids from,” Silver said. “And we discussed with our board (Tuesday) that we’re in the process of finalizing those bids for an initial group of cities.”
- Silver expressed some concern about the Trail Blazers‘ negotiations with the city of Portland regarding the Moda Center renovation plans, suggesting that those talks have “gone off track” and that “several open issues need to be resolved,” according to Joe Freeman of The Oregonian (subscription required) and Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report (Substack link). A city council vote on August 12 is expected to determine whether to approve $120MM in funding for the project, Highkin writes, but multiple recent reports have indicated that city officials haven’t received clarification from Blazers leaders about how exactly that money would be spent.
Latest On NBA’s Investigation Into Clippers, Kawhi Leonard
As part of its probe into Kawhi Leonard’s and the Clippers‘ agreements with Aspiration, the NBA is investigating whether the Clippers improperly covered expenses for Leonard while not being reimbursed, Mike Vorkunov reports for The Athletic, citing anonymous sources.
According to Vorkunov, Wachtell Lipton – the law firm leading the investigation – has also looked into whether Leonard had an endorsement deal with a separate company that has, to this point, gone unnoticed.
The Clippers, who have been accused of circumventing the salary cap to pay Leonard beyond his NBA salary via a no-show endorsement deal with Aspiration (a team sponsor), have denied any wrongdoing, claiming that the team and owner Steve Ballmer were victims of the fraud perpetrated by co-founder Joe Sanberg, who has been sentenced to 14 years in prison.
However, Vorkunov reports that some team executives around the league increasingly believe that the Clippers will face some sort of punishment from the NBA.
While Vorkunov doesn’t provide specifics on the potential improperly covered expenses and second endorsement deal that the NBA’s investigators are looking into, he takes a deep dive into Leonard’s and the Clippers’ relationships with Aspiration, sharing some previously unreported details.
According to Vorkunov, some former Aspiration employees have pushed back on the idea that Leonard’s lucrative endorsement agreement with the company was always meant to be a no-show job. As he details, there were discussions about the usage of Leonard’s likeness for promotional material for Aspiration, including one potential campaign inspired by Groot, a tree-based character from The Avengers franchise. The company made mock-ups of the concept, but the creative team was eventually told to stop pursuing it.
“Stop thinking about Kawhi,” one employee said they were told, according to Vorkunov. “This feels like a dead end.”
“Nothing ever came from it,” another former employee said of the efforts to build a promotional campaign around Leonard. “I’m not sure why it died, whether it was on our end or his end or if we couldn’t figure out a concept.”
The Clippers, Leonard, and the Raptors are all heavily invested in the outcome of the league’s investigation, given that Toronto has a pending trade agreement in place to acquire the two-time Finals MVP. That deal won’t be completed until the NBA’s probe wraps up in order to ensure that Toronto won’t take on the risk of any penalty assessed to Leonard.
And-Ones: Team USA Assistants, NBPA, Expansion, More
Mark Daigneault of the Thunder, J.B. Bickerstaff of the Pistons, and Gonzaga’s Mark Few are expected to be named Team USA men’s basketball assistants under head coach Erik Spoelstra, reports Shams Charania of ESPN (Twitter link).
USA Basketball announced last October that Spoelstra was taking over for Steve Kerr as the head coach of the men’s basketball team in advance of the 2027 World Cup and 2028 Olympics. However, there was no information at the time about what his staff might look like.
Daigneault, the head coach in Oklahoma City since 2020, has an NBA Coach of the Year award and a championship under his belt, while Bickerstaff is coming off a 60-win season and currently serves as the president of the National Basketball Coaches Association. Few, meanwhile, has led the Zags to a pair of NCAA championship games and is a carryover from the 2024 Olympics — he was an assistant under Kerr in Paris alongside Spoelstra and Tyronn Lue.
Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:
- David Kelly, the new executive director of the National Basketball Players Association, hasn’t made much noise since taking over the role from Andre Iguodala in February, but he spoke out on Friday against the second tax apron rules in the current Collective Bargaining Agreement, arguing that the second-apron restrictions should be removed or at least “softened,” per Ben Golliver of ESPN. “We are not fans of the second apron,” Kelly said. “We did not propose the second apron. We should have done a better job of fighting back against the second apron. In the future, we will have a much more unified union, and we will do a better job of fighting back. … We’re seeing (the apron system) decimate teams and force decisions to be made that are not basketball decisions.”
- Kelly also spoke about the NBA’s investigation into the Clippers‘ and Kawhi Leonard‘s agreements with the now-bankrupt green banking company Aspiration, opining that the process shouldn’t have taken this long and suggesting that the players’ union doesn’t think “there’s a ‘there’ there” (Twitter links via Jake Fischer of The Stein Line).
- While Seattle has remained a “one-bid city” for NBA expansion, in the words of Tim Booth of The Seattle Times, it looks like there are four different groups vying to bring a team to Las Vegas, prompting Booth to wonder whether or not the league will be comfortable moving forward with both cities on the same timeline. One of the prospective owners hoping to land an expansion team in Las Vegas, Golden Knights owner Bill Foley, explained to Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic that he believes his experience bringing the NHL to the city gives him a leg up on the competition. “We did a couple things really well. We’re going to do it on steroids with an NBA team,” Foley said. “… We’ve already brought a major-league franchise to Las Vegas. We’ve jumped through all the hoops. … I believe we’re in a really good spot to compete.”
- Appearing on the Million Dollaz Worth of Game podcast (YouTube link), new Sixers wing Jaylen Brown spoke about why he believes the NBA’s agency model is “broken” and explained why he found it useful to work with the players’ union instead of an agent when he first entered the league (Twitter video links).
Raptors Notes: Kawhi Trade, DeRozan, Valanciunas, CMB
Barring a direct punishment of Clippers forward Kawhi Leonard, which isn’t considered any more likely now that the trade has been put on hold until the Aspiration investigation concludes, the terms of the blockbuster deal that will send the two-time Finals MVP back to the Raptors aren’t expected to be altered, according to Sam Amick, Eric Koreen and Law Murray of The Athletic.
As Amick, Koreen and Murray detail, the NBA warned Toronto that the ongoing investigation could cause issues with the trade when it was agreed upon in principle on June 30. That point was reiterated when the two teams scheduled a call with the league office to finalize the deal, which is why the Raptors decided to pause the trade for now until the investigation is complete.
Some people around the NBA believed commissioner Adam Silver might announced the results of the investigation on Tuesday at a Board of Governors meeting, per The Athletic, but a league spokesperson seemed to put a damper on that optimism when they said the law firm’s were expected to be finalized “in the coming weeks.”
According to Amick, Koreen and Murray, many league observers have been “bewildered” at the length of the investigation, which began last September after a series of podcasts from investigative journalist Pablo Torre alleged the Clippers and Leonard circumvented the salary cap to pay Leonard through a no-show endorsement deal with Aspiration, a now-defunct “green banking” company.
Here’s more on the Raptors:
- Leonard was in Toronto earlier this week when Kyle Lowry signed his ceremonial one-day contract to retire a Raptor and has already passed his physical, ESPN’s Brian Windhorst said on Get Up (Twitter video link). The 35-year-old star, who’s in the final year of his contract, has also begun extension talks with the Raptors, Windhorst added.
- The trade delay gives the Raptors some time to explore the possibility of expanding the deal to include a third team, observes Michael Grange of Sportsnet.ca. The goal in that scenario, Grange explains, would be to send out another contract to a third club so Toronto isn’t taking back more salary than it’s sending out — the current structure would see the team hard-capped at the first tax apron. A potential third team’s inclusion would have no bearing on the main deal between the Clippers and Raptors, according to Grange’s sources.
- Grange reiterates Toronto is unlikely to pursue ex-Raptors DeMar DeRozan and Jonas Valanciunas in part because of the team’s financial situation. Assuming the trade goes through as is, the Raptors wouldn’t have room under the first apron to sign a player to a veteran’s minimum contract, Grange notes.
- In another story for Sportsnet.ca, Grange takes a look at the Raptors’ offseason development plan for 2025 lottery pick Collin Murray-Boyles. The team is hoping to see the 2025/26 All-Rookie selection expand his game during Summer League, though he was out for Friday’s opener due to a finger sprain, tweets Blake Murphy of Sportsnet. Second-year guard Alijah Martin was also sidelined because of knee inflammation.
Trade/FA Notes: Trade Timing, S. Jones, Kawhi, More
The Hornets‘ trade involving LaMelo Ball and Naz Reid appears on track to be officially finalized sometime on Friday, according to Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer (Twitter link). The expectation is that, for salary-matching purposes, the deal will be combined with the Timberwolves‘ separate three-team Julius Randle trade with the Nets and Bulls and will be completed as a single four-team transaction.
The Suns‘ major offseason moves have been on hold until that trade is completed, since a draft pick Phoenix is acquiring from the Hornets in the Miles Bridges deal is tied to one that Charlotte is acquiring from Minnesota. According to John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 (Twitter link), the Suns expect to complete both the Bridges trade and their signing of Luke Kennard early next week.
While free agent signings typically aren’t held up trades, Kennard can’t sign until after the Suns finalize the Bridges deal because the team is hard-capped at the second tax apron and won’t have enough room under that threshold to add Kennard until after Royce O’Neale‘s and Grayson Allen‘s salaries (totaling $29MM) have been swapped for Bridges’ $22.8MM figure.
We have more on trades and free agency from around the NBA:
- Nuggets restricted free agent Spencer Jones said in a video posted to social media that he’s “currently fielding offers, as we speak,” noting that his agent is talking to teams besides Denver (Twitter video link via Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports). “Any of these days could be the very last time I’m going to this facility,” said Jones, who recorded the video during his walk to the Nuggets’ practice facility. “Or not. We’ll see.” According to Darren Wolfson of 5 Eyewitness News and SKOR North (Twitter link), the Timberwolves have checked in on Jones but probably don’t have a realistic path to landing him due to their cap situation.
- The Clippers explored Kawhi Leonard‘s trade market for several weeks before reaching an agreement with Toronto, according to Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link), who says L.A. was under the impression from the league office that the NBA’s Aspiration investigation wouldn’t have any impact on a potential deal. It wasn’t until the two teams scheduled a trade call this week that the NBA told the Raptors they’d assume the risk for any penalties Leonard faces as a result of the probe, separate from possible sanctions for the Clippers, Fischer writes. That’s what led to Toronto deciding to hold off on officially finalizing the trade, though both sides remain confident it’ll happen eventually.
- ESPN’s Bobby Marks takes a look at 10 unresolved offseason storylines, including examining how LeBron James‘ free agency has affected a handful of teams and players. Marks also checks in on the top restricted and unrestricted free agents still on the board, evaluates possible extension candidates, and considers which teams still have open roster spots to fill.
Hawks Among Teams Eyeing Peyton Watson
The Clippers maintain their previously reported interest in Peyton Watson, while the Hawks have also shown “fresh” interest in the Nuggets‘ restricted free agent forward, reports Jake Fischer of The Stein Line (Substack link).
However, for either team to offer Watson the $25MM+ annual salary he’s reportedly seeking, a sign-and-trade would almost certainly be necessary. And so far, Fischer writes, Denver’s asking price has been too high for either L.A. or Atlanta to seriously consider meeting it.
As Fischer explains, the Nuggets are believed to want a return along the same lines as what the Jazz got from the Lakers for Walker Kessler (two first-round picks and two first-round swaps). Utah also didn’t take back any player salaries in that Kessler sign-and-trade, which could be an important factor for a Denver team navigating the tax aprons. Using Watson’s outgoing salary to take back salary would hard-cap the Nuggets at the second apron.
If the Clippers were to sign-and-trade for Watson, there’s a scenario in which they could fold an agreement into their Kawhi Leonard trade with Toronto, using Leonard’s outgoing salary to offer the Nuggets wing a starting salary worth up to about $23.1MM, as Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron (Substack link) outlined earlier this week. With the Leonard trade on hold for now, L.A. has time to explore that possibility.
As for the Hawks, they don’t have any trade exceptions or pending deals that they could realistically fold Watson into, so they’d likely need to send out a combination such as Corey Kispert and Buddy Hield to make the math work, and it’s unlikely the Nuggets would be interested in taking on either player.
Considering possible trade structures may be moot though, if the Nuggets’ asking price for Watson doesn’t come down. According to Fischer, if the price remains as steep as it has been, the Clippers are expected to shift their focus to re-signing their own restricted free agent, Bennedict Mathurin.
The one team that does have the cap flexibility necessary to sign Watson to an offer sheet without requiring a sign-and-trade is Brooklyn. But Fischer writes that the Nets haven’t been “keen” on going up to $25MM+ per year for the 23-year-old and seem unlikely to aggressively pursue him.
Brooklyn is still trying to figure out whether there’s a way to maximize the club’s cap room before completing its Julius Randle trade with Minnesota, Chicago, and Charlotte, Fischer notes.
Yanic Konan Niederhauser Underwent Follow-Up Procedure On Foot
After having season-ending surgery in March to address a Lisfranc injury in his right foot, Clippers big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser has since undergone a follow-up procedure this offseason, reports Law Murray of The Athletic (Twitter link).
As Murray explains, the most recent procedure removed “hardware” from the initial surgery and is considered a normal part of the recovery process. Niederhauser is still wearing a walking boot, Murray adds.
The Clippers didn’t provide a recovery timeline for Niederhauser when he underwent surgery in March and haven’t shared any concrete updates since then. Murray suggests (via Twitter) that he doesn’t expect the 23-year-old to be ready for opening night this fall and wouldn’t be surprised if he doesn’t play until after Christmas, though he acknowledges that’s just informed speculation at this point.
The 30th overall pick in the 2025 draft out of Penn State, Niederhauser didn’t play much as a rookie, especially during the first half of the season, averaging just 4.3 points, 2.9 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks in 10.3 minutes per game across 41 appearances off the bench.
However, the 6’11” center had been part of L.A.’s rotation immediately prior to suffering the injury, as the deadline deal sending Ivica Zubac to Indiana opened up more consistent playing time for him. Niederhauser logged double-digit minutes in each of his last nine healthy games of the season in February and March, averaging 7.0 PPG, 5.2 RPG, and 1.6 BPG in 16.6 MPG during that stretch.
Once he’s healthy, Niederhauser figures to be in the mix at the five for the Clippers along with Brook Lopez and Isaiah Jackson.