Clippers rookie Yanic Konan Niederhäuser has been showing off his 7-foot-3 wingspan in NBA 2K26 Summer League.
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LAS VEGAS — Yanic Konan Niederhäuser was in the dunker spot Monday at the Thomas & Mack Center when LA Clippers teammate Zavier Simpson drove hard down the middle of the paint. Simpson hit the rookie center with a good bounce pass and watched him go up against Los Angeles Lakers center Christian Koloko — and miss everything.
At that point, Konan Niederhäuser had made only two shots in nine quarters of summer-league action. None of those makes came in his first seven quarters. He only attempted one shot in his second summer-league game the night before.
In the second quarter, though, Konan Niederhäuser got a couple of dunks, including one in Koloko’s grill. He cut off another Simpson drive in the third quarter, finishing another dunk. And to cap the show, Konan Niederhäuser took two dribbles on a fast break following a Lakers turnover and launched himself toward the basket just inside of the free-throw circle, with total disregard for backpedaling power forward Cole Swider. It was the kind of dunk that showcased the 7-foot-3 wingspan and 37-inch maximum vertical leap from a man who checks in at 6-feet-11 and 243 pounds.
“I was just way more aggressive today,” the 22-year-old said after scoring 10 points on 5 of 9 field goals against the Lakers as part of a 67-58 win. “I rolled harder to the rim. Also, when I left the hotel, I said, ‘Today, Konan gotta be here. Not Yanic. Konan the Barbarian.”
Monday night was a breakthrough for Konan Niederhäuser, but it still highlighted areas where he has room for improvement. In a game the Clippers won by nine points, the Lakers outscored them by nine in Konan Niederhäuser’s 22:54. While the Clippers were at their best with burgeoning young defender Trentyn Flowers on the floor, it has been a struggle for them to keep Konan Niederhäuser included offensively through three games. His only two free-throw attempts came in his first game Friday against the Houston Rockets, he hasn’t made any shots outside of the paint despite attempting two 3-pointers, and his next assist will be his first in summer league.
“He’s got to run the floor all day,” Clippers summer-league head coach Jeremy Castleberry said when asked about what Konan Niederhäuser needs to do to get more opportunities to score. “If he runs the floor all game, rim protects and continues to get behind the defense, he’ll be OK. He’s got to get his conditioning in shape. He’s working on it. Like I said, every game, he’s getting better. I like everything he’s doing. I have no issues with him, as long as he comes in and works harder than he did the last day.”
The Clippers drafted the Switzerland-born Konan Niederhäuser with the 30th pick in June, making him the first Penn State player selected in the first round of the NBA Draft. Even with that pedigree, he is set to be a multi-year project.
General manager Trent Redden said that Konan Niederhäuser went from 6-1 as a 15-year-old to 6-9 by the time he was 18. Before he landed at Penn State, he played at Northern Illinois for two years. Now, as the third-string center behind two starting-caliber veterans who both took the long road toward improving their games, he has a long way to go and a relatively short time to get there.
When Ivica Zubac was traded to the Clippers in 2019 from the Lakers, he was a month away from his 22nd birthday on March 18. Niederhäuser turned 22 on March 14. Zubac was given a starting job right away with the Clippers and didn’t permanently earn that spot until 2021. This past season, he blossomed into a 30-minute player for the first time, earning his first career All-Defense selection while averaging career bests in points (16.8), rebounds (12.6) and assists (2.7).
“I was excited, happy. I felt I was in a great spot, especially with all these veterans who I can learn from,” Konan Niederhäuser said. “A great spot to just develop and get better. It’s my main goal to improve every year and just get better.”
Konan Niederhäuser knew Zubac would be his teammate when he was drafted. Once free agency began, the Clippers added 2021 NBA champion Brook Lopez on a two-year deal. Lopez, like Zubac, knows a thing or two about development. Lopez didn’t make more than two 3-pointers in a season until his ninth year. Now, he’s known as one of the league’s elite 3-point shooting, rim-protecting centers who can still score inside at a high level.
Lopez said he is willing to be a mentor to Konan Niederhäuser while also pushing the young center to get the most out of his ability.
“I was fortunate to play with a lot of great players throughout my career,” said Lopez, who turned 37 in April. “Kevin Garnett, Paul Pierce, Giannis (Antetokounmpo), Vince Carter. I can go down the line. But particularly, KG was someone I was fortunate to have played with when I was a younger player in this league.
“He helped mold me into the player I am today. And so, I think it’s only right to pass on the things he taught me, help the younger guys the same way he helped me. I wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for him. So I’m absolutely ready to get on the court, help him out and then help him adjust and become a great player in this league.”
Konan Niederhäuser was the fifth center selected in June. The only true center who went in the lottery was Khaman Maluach out of Duke, who went No. 10 to the Phoenix Suns. The other three first-round centers were Thomas Sorber out of Georgetown (15th to Oklahoma City), Yang Hansen out of China (16th to Portland) and Joan Beringer out of France (17th to Minnesota). All of those centers are younger than Konan Niederhäuser.
The Clippers worked out Creighton center Ryan Kalkbrenner, who became the sixth center drafted, going 34th to the Charlotte Hornets. Kalkbrenner is more experienced and pro-ready than Konan Niederhäuser, but Kalkbrenner is more than a year older after spending five years in college. Konan Niederhäuser’s athletic tools — he had the second-best standing vertical leap of any player at the combine at 33 1/2 inches — likely give him the higher ceiling. Still, Kalkbrenner will likely be watched by Clippers fans as a counterpart to Konan Niederhäuser.
“I feel like I’m in a great spot,” Kalkbrenner told The Athletic. “Part of making it in the league is being in the right place at the right time, and I feel I am. I feel there’s an opportunity to play. I feel management and coaches all have a plan for me, want me to be a part of the long-term plan. So I just got to come in and do what they ask … but obviously being a fifth-year player, I have the expectation of myself, and they have the expectations of me to come in and to do some things right away. Obviously I don’t think that’s going to happen. You don’t expect most rookies to come in and be an All-Star right away or be a star player right away, but I think I can definitely come in and impact the game right away.”
Even with the high expectations a player like Kalkbrenner has, he can relate to Konan Niederhäuser’s assimilation to being a center in summer league. In three games, Kalkbrenner has 26 points on 10-of-21 shooting from the field, with a high of 10 points (the same single-game scoring high as Konan Niederhäuser).
As the Clippers progress through summer league, Konan Niederhäuser will progress through his development. Over time, the Clippers hope he learns how to use his body to effectively put himself in a position to make an impact on both ends of the floor. Because Konan Niederhäuser is 22 and not 19, it is even more critical to show he can make it with the Clippers; it’s harder to sell the other 29 teams on a second-chance 25-year-old than it is for a second-chance 22-year-old.
Konan Niederhäuser is getting a taste of what it’s like to get better in a short amount of time. And he knows that he needs to channel that “barbarian” to be the best version of himself.
“He’s ruthless — I watched his movie,” Konan Niederhäuser told The Athletic when asked about “Conan the Barbarian.” “I know he’s got his goal in mind, and if he wants to get something, he’s going to get it. And he’s going to do whatever he’s got to do to get it.”
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Law Murray is a staff writer for The Athletic covering the LA Clippers. Prior to joining The Athletic, he was an NBA editor at ESPN, a researcher at NFL Media and a contributor to DrewLeague.com and ClipperBlog. Law is from Philadelphia, Pa., and is a graduate of California University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California. Follow Law on Twitter @LawMurrayTheNU