Penn State Basketball: Three Nittany Lions Headed to NBA Playoffs

Can Jalen Pickett makes some noise for the Denver Nuggets in the NBA Playoffs?

Denver Nuggets guard Jalen Pickett celebrates after making a 3-pointer against the Sacramento Kings. | Ed Szczepanski-Imagn Images

The NBA Playoffs begin this week with three former Nittany Lions representing the Nittany Lions. Two will face off in the first round.

Penn State's Jalen Pickett (Denver Nuggets) and Seth Lundy (Los Angeles Clippers) will meet in a first-round Western Conference series that begins Saturday in Denver. The Nuggets are seeded fourth, while the Clippers are fifth.

Meanwhile, Lamar Stevens and the Memphis Grizzlies face the Golden State Warriors on Tuesday night in an NBA play-in game. The winner gets second-seeded Houston in the first round. The loser faces the winner of the Dallas-Sacramento game to determine the No. 8 seed. Here's a look at Penn State in the NBA playoffs.

Jalen Pickett

The Denver guard has been among the NBA's most intriguing late-season stories. A second-round pick of the 2023 NBA Draft, Pickett has played a larger role for the Nuggets over the past two weeks.

Pickett produced a triple double against San Antonio on April 2, with 17 points, 11 rebounds and 10 assists. A week later he scored a career-high 18 points in a win over Sacramento. That was Denver's first game since ownership fired head coach Michael Malone and GM Calvin Booth, also a Penn State graduate.

Pickett in 2023 led the Nittany Lions to their first NCAA Tournament appearance in 12 years. He was a consensus All-American that season, averaging 17.7 points, 7.4 rebounds and 6.6 assists. Later that year, Pickett became the highest-drafted Nittany Lion of the modern, two-round era when Denver selected him at No. 32 overall.

Lamar Stevens

Stevens capped the regular season in playoff form, scoring a season-high 31 points in a win over Dallas. Stevens made 14 of 25 shots, more than he had taken in the previous 11 games combined, and played a season-high 36 minutes. Though Memphis was resting starters for the play-in game, the performance could earn Stevens more run.

Stevens rejoined Memphis on a six-day contract in February, and the Grizzlies signed him for the remainder of the season in March. Memphis initially signed Stevens as a call-up from the Motor City Cruise of the G League. Stevens played with Memphis and Boston last season after spending the first three years of his career in Cleveland.

A two-time All-Big Ten pick, Stevens was Penn State's team MVP as a senior and ended his career as the program's No. 2 career scorer (2,207 points). He needed eight points to break the Penn State career-scoring record in 2020, but the postseason was canceled because of COVID.

Memphis Grizzlies forward Lamar Stevens (8) shoots as Dallas Mavericks forward Caleb Martin (16) defends during the third quarter at FedExForum. | Petre Thomas-Imagn Images

Seth Lundy

A former teammate of Pickett's, Lundy signed a two-way deal with the Clippers in March. He joined the Clippers after spending two seasons with the Atlanta Hawks, who drafted him with the 46th pick in 2023. Lundy has not played this season, in part because of injury issues.

At Penn State, Lundy was instrumental to the team's run to the 2023 Big Ten Tournament final and NCAA Tournament. He averaged 14.2 points and 6.3 rebounds per game and shot 40 percent from 3-point range. Lundy scored 1,283 career points and made 229 career 3-pointers, ranking sixth in school history.