While there’s been a lot of reporting on who the Sixers will take at No. 3, there’s an interesting development when it comes to who they could select at 35.
Ahead of the 2020 NBA Draft, there were rumors the Sixers gave a draft promise to an Arkansas sharpshooter by the name of Isaiah Joe. Sure enough, the team took Joe in the second round with the 49th overall pick.
The good news is the Sixers found a player who contributed to a championship team. The bad news is it wasn’t them. In any case, you have to consider Joe a big hit for the scouting department as a second-rounder.
We bring up Joe here because there’s been an interesting development about who the Sixers could take with their second-round pick in 2025. While there’s been plenty of reporting about who the Sixers could select at No. 3, we might have a clue as to the player they’re looking at with pick No. 35.
Three reputable draft experts — The Athletic’s Sam Vecenie, ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Yahoo! Sports’ Kevin O’Connor — had the Sixers taking Penn State big man Yanic Konan Niederhauser at pick 35. We’re not saying there’s a draft promise there, but it seems notable.
(It’s worth noting that Vecenie changed his pick Tuesday morning to Marquette’s Kam Jones. Still doesn’t seem like a coincidence that he previously had Konan Niederhauer mocked to the Sixers initially.)
So who is Konan Niederhauer and would he make sense for the Sixers?
The 22-year-old is a native of Switzerland who played professionally in Germany as a teenager before playing two seasons at Northern Illinois and then transferring to Penn State. In 2024-25, he averaged 12.9 points and 6.3 rebounds in 25.1 minutes per game. His 2.3 blocks per game led the Big Ten.
He wasn’t necessarily on the NBA’s radar during the season, but he did so well at the G League Elite Camp that he received an invitation to the actual combine.
His combine measurements were impressive. He stands 6-foot-11.25 without shoes (a true 7-footer with shoes on) with a 7-foot-3.25 wingspan and 9-foot-3 standing reach. He’s built solidly at 242.6 pounds.
Konan Niederhauser’s game is pretty straightforward: he is a super athletic and high-energy rim-running big. He basically plays 100 mph and tries to block and dunk everything (he had 39 dunks in 29 games). They say the ball finds energy and the ball always seems to find this kid.
He’s a serious pick-and-roll lob threat with excellent timing and hands. He definitely understands his role and crashes the offensive glass hard. While the skills are raw, there could be more to his offensive game as he develops. He shot threes poorly in college (11-of-51), but he did take them and they didn’t look terrible. He got to the line a bunch and hit 66.4%.
His length and athleticism make him intriguing on the defense end as well. Not only did he lead the Big Ten in blocks this past season, but he led the MAC in blocks the year prior. He even upped his steals to 0.7 last year — a not-insignificant number for a rim-protecting center. That’s the type of activity level NBA teams are looking for. Whether he can capably switch onto guard is another question.
Here’s what O’Connor said in his assessment:
“Konan Niederhauser is an elite athlete who lives above the rim as a finisher and shot blocker, and he displays some intriguing upside as a 7-foot shot creator. But he needs to improve his fundamentals to make it all click.”
O’ Connor’s NBA comp was DeAndre Jordan. Funny enough, Jordan was drafted 35th overall by the Los Angeles Clippers in 2008. His career turned out nicely with three All-NBA and two All-Defensive team selections. He also became a NBA champion after he left the Sixers (not a fun trend).
So how does a player like this fit in with the Sixers?
Well, Konan Niederhauser ticks about every one of Daryl Morey’s boxes. He’s young, athletic, long, hits the offensive glass, and finds easy offense by playing his butt off. With uncertainty surrounding Joel Embiid’s immediate and distant future, Konan Niederhauser is a nice option as a traditional, rim-running backup big.
There’s definitely overlap with last year’s second-round pick, Adem Bona. Bona similarly is a long and freakish athlete, with scouts believing there could be more offensive upside to his game. If Bona is able to make threes at the NBA level, he becomes a much more fascinating player. If Konan Niederhauser makes threes, he also becomes a much more fascinating player.
With many (fairly) focusing on the Sixers being guard-heavy and on the smallish side, the idea of Bona and Konan Niederhauser as a frontcourt duo attempting to dunk and block everything is tantalizing. Banking on two second-rounders to fully actualize their potential is a gamble, but the Sixers have been hitting on second-rounders in recent years.
If the Sixers wind up taking Janic Konan Niederhauser, they’d be happy if he had a career like Isaiah Joe. They’d be elated if he had one like DeAndre Jordan.