Brandin "Podz" Podziemski ( ; born February 25, 2003) is an American professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appr ...

player for the

Golden State Warriors The Golden State Warriors are an American professional basketball team based in San Francisco. The Warriors compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. Founded in 194 ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United S ...

(NBA). He played

college basketball In United States colleges, top-tier basketball is governed by collegiate athletic bodies including National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), the United States Collegiate Athleti ...

for the

Illinois Fighting Illini The Illinois Fighting Illini () are the intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign. The university offers 10 men's and 11 women's varsity sports. The University operates a number of athletic faci ...

before transferring to the

Santa Clara Broncos The Santa Clara Broncos are athletic teams that represent Santa Clara University. The school colors are red and white. The nicknames for teams is The Broncos and the student fans are referred to as the "Ruff Riders". The Broncos compete in the NC ...

Early life and high school

Podziemski grew up in Greenfield, Wisconsin and attended St. John's Northwestern Military Academy. He was named first team All-State after averaging 22.5 points and 9.3 rebounds per game as a sophomore with St. John's Northwestern Military Academy after not playing on the varsity team as a freshman at

Muskego High School Muskego High School is a comprehensive secondary school located in Muskego, Wisconsin. The school, administered by the Muskego-Norway School District, lies in southeast Waukesha County, in southeast Wisconsin. The district stretches through the ...

. Podziemski averaged 27.6 points and 9.2 rebounds and repeated as a first team All-State selection during his junior season. He was named

Wisconsin Mr. Basketball Each year the Wisconsin Mr. Basketball award is given to the person chosen as the best high school boys basketball player in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, in the United States. The award has been given since 1982. Winners are chosen by the Wisconsin ...

as a senior after averaging 35.1 points, 10.0 rebounds, 5.6 assists, and 4.0 steals per game. Podziemski was also the boys basketball Gatorade Player of the Year for Wisconsin in 2021. Podziemski was rated a four-star recruit and committed to play college basketball at Illinois over offers from Kentucky, Miami (Fla.), Vanderbilt, and Wake Forest. Podziemski was a left-handed pitcher growing up with opportunities to pursue baseball after high school. Podziemski played varsity football his junior year at St. John's Northwestern Academies as a wide receiver and safety.

College career

Podziemski began his college basketball career with the

. He played in 16 games as a freshman, all off the bench, and averaged 1.4 points per game. After the end of the season, Podziemski entered the NCAA transfer portal. Podziemski ultimately transferred to Santa Clara. He entered his first season with the Broncos as the team's starting shooting guard. Podziemski scored 30 points with 9 rebounds and 5 steals in Santa Clara's season opener against Eastern Washington as the Broncos won 84-72. He scored 34 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in the following game against

Georgia Southern Georgia Southern University (GS or Georgia Southern) is a public research university in the U.S. state of Georgia. The flagship campus is in Statesboro, and other locations include the Armstrong Campus in Savannah and the Liberty Campus in Hin ...

. At the close of the 2022–23 regular season, he was named WCC co-Player of the Year, sharing the award with

Drew Timme Andrew Matthew Timme (; born September 9, 2000) is an American college basketball player for the Gonzaga Bulldogs of the West Coast Conference (WCC). Early life and high school career Timme grew up in the northern Dallas suburb of Richardson, Te ...

of Gonzaga
WCC Newcomer of the Year
NABC First Team, USBWA All-District, an
All-WCC First Team
Podziemski also earned WCC Player of the Week honors a SCU record four times, his 636 points was the fourth most in a season in program history, and his SCU three-point percentage was fourth-best in SCU program history. Podziemski was one of only three NCAA Division 1 men's basketball players to average 19, 8, and 3 in the 2022-23 season and finished 5th in the nation in three-point field goal percentage (43.8%). Podziemski declared for the 2023 NBA draft while maintaining his eligibility. After taking part in the NBA Draft Combine and receiving positive feedback, he decided to remain in the draft.

Professional career

The

selected Podziemski with the nineteenth overall pick in the 2023 NBA draft and on July 3, 2023, signed him to a contract. On December 12, 2023, against the

Phoenix Suns The Phoenix Suns are an American professional basketball team based in Phoenix, Arizona. They compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA), as a member of the league's Western Conference Pacific Division. The Suns are the only team in t ...

, Podziemski became the first

rookie to have 20+ points, 10+ rebounds (11), and 5 or more assists in a single game since two-time NBA MVP

Stephen Curry Wardell Stephen Curry II ( ; born March 14, 1988) is an American professional basketball player for the Golden State Warriors of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Widely regarded as one of the greatest basketball players of all time, ...

did so in the 2009-10 season. On December 16, 2023, Podziemski put up 19 points, five rebounds, five assists, three steals, and a career-high four three-pointers made in a 124–120 win over the

Brooklyn Nets The Brooklyn Nets are an American professional basketball team based in the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The Nets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference. The t ...

. On December 25, 2023, against the

Denver Nuggets The Denver Nuggets are an American professional basketball team based in Denver. The Nuggets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. The team was founded as the D ...

, Podziemski became the first rookie in NBA history to have 9+ rebounds, 6+ assists, 5+ steals, and 3+ three pointers in a single game. (That evening, he had 13 points, 9 rebounds, 6 assists, and 5 steals on 57/75/100 splits.) On January 14, 2024, in a game against the

Milwaukee Bucks The Milwaukee Bucks are an American professional basketball team based in Milwaukee. The Bucks compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Eastern Conference Central Division. The team was founded in 1968 ...

, he scored 23 points and recorded 10 rebounds, three assists, and two steals. On February 16, 2024, Podziemski played in the Panini Rising Stars tournament in Indianapolis for Team Pau. On May 21 2024, Podziemski was announced on the NBA all rookie first team.

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , style="text-align:left;", Golden State , 74 , , 28 , , 26.6 , , .454 , , .385 , , .633 , , 5.8 , , 3.7 , , .8 , , .2 , , 9.2 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 74 , , 28 , , 26.6 , , .454 , , .385 , , .633 , , 5.8 , , 3.7 , , .8 , , .2 , , 9.2

Play-in

, - , style="text-align:left;",

2024 Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1928 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ***''Steamboat Willie'', Walt Disney's fi ...

, style="text-align:left;", Golden State , 1 , , 0 , , 24.1 , , .667 , , .500 , , , , 8.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , 5.0 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 1 , , 0 , , 24.1 , , .667 , , .500 , , , , 8.0 , , 1.0 , , 1.0 , , .0 , , 5.0

College

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;",

Illinois Illinois ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern United States. Its largest metropolitan areas include the Chicago metropolitan area, and the Metro East section, of Greater St. Louis. Other smaller metropolita ...

, 16 , , 0 , , 4.3 , , .421 , , .231 , , .750 , , .9 , , .3 , , .1 , , .0 , , 1.4 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

, style="text-align:left;", Santa Clara , 32 , , 32 , , 36.0 , , .483 , , .438 , , .771 , , 8.8 , , 3.7 , , 1.8 , , .5 , , 19.9 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 48 , , 32 , , 25.4 , , .480 , , .424 , , .770 , , 6.1 , , 2.5 , , 1.2 , , .3 , , 13.7

Personal life

Podziemski is of Polish descent and has expressed interest in obtaining Polish citizenship in order to play for the

Poland men's national basketball team The Poland men's national basketball team ( pl, Reprezentacja Polski w koszykówce) represents Poland in international basketball competitions. They are controlled by the Polish Basketball Federation (PZKosz). Poland has competed at the EuroB ...

References

External links

Illinois Fighting Illini bioSanta Clara Broncos bio
{{DEFAULTSORT:Podziemski, Brandin 2003 births Living people American men's basketball players American people of Polish descent Basketball players from Wisconsin Golden State Warriors draft picks Golden State Warriors players Illinois Fighting Illini men's basketball players Santa Clara Broncos men's basketball players Santa Cruz Warriors players