NBA Draft: NBA champion Denver Nuggets draft Jalen Pickett in Round 2
Could one of the best players to ever play for Penn State have asked for a better landing spot in the NBA draft than Jalen Pickett? Pickett, Penn State’s All-American guard, was selected by the reigning NBA champion Denver Nuggets in the second round following a trade for the pick with the Indiana Pacers. The Nuggets used the second pick of the second round to acquire Pickett.
Pickett is coming off a career season for Penn State and was the engine for a Penn State squad that made a run all the way to the Big Ten championship game and returned to the NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament for the first time since 2011. Pickett averaged 17.7 points per game, 6.6 assists per game, and 7.4 rebounds per game for the Nittany Lions in the 2022-23 season.
It may be worth a reminder the general manager for the Nuggets is former Penn State standout Calvin Booth, who was also a former draft pick out of the program in 1999. Booth received plenty of praise for how he helped build the Nuggets roster that became an NBA champion, and he clearly must have liked something in Pickett to make a move with the Pacers to grab the high second-round pick on draft night. Pickett was viewed by draft analysts as a potential late-second round pick, so the Nuggets were all-in on adding Pickett to the roster.
Pickett is arguably the best transfer addition Penn State’s program ahs ever had. Pickett was a key transfer addition in the first season under former head coach Micah Shrewsberry. The former Sienna standout was regarded as one of the best transfer players at the time of his transfer to Penn State in 2021, and he lived up to that billing by coming off an All-American caliber performance last season.
WHOOP!🏀
Jalen Picket gets drafted round 2 pick 32 by the @nuggets !!
Congrats, @JalenPickett7 !#WeAre
— Penn State Athletics (@GoPSUsports) June 23, 2023
"I can't lie, I started crying… it just seems crazy. I can't even talk right now." –@JalenPickett7
Jalen Pickett heard his name called in the #NBADraft surrounded by his family and friends.#WeAre #bRINGItIn @13WHAM pic.twitter.com/oTA8MiS88G
— Dan Fetes (@danfetes) June 23, 2023
Pickett was the 14th player all-time to be drafted by an NBA franchise out of Penn State. Teammate Seth Lundy would later be drafted by the Atlanta Hawks to mark the first time two Penn State players were selected in the same NBA draft in program history.
