Penn

Oct. 17 (UPI) — The University of Pennsylvania and the University of Southern California have rejected the Trump administration’s offer of priority access to federal funds in exchange for adopting government-mandated reforms.

With the rejections of Penn and USC on Thursday, four of the nine universities the Department of Education asked to sign on to its 10-part “Compact for Academic Excellence in Higher Education” have so far declined.

In a letter addressed to the Penn community on Thursday, the school’s president, Larry Jameson, informed the Department of Education that Penn “respectfully” declined to sign the compact.

“At Penn, we are committed to merit-based achievement and accountability. The long-standing partnerships between American higher education and the federal government has greatly benefited society and our nation. Shared goals and investment in talent and ideas will turn possibility into progress,” Jameson said.

Beong-Soo Kim, interim president at USC, also told his community Thursday that they had informed the Department of Education that they wouldn’t be signing the compact.

Included in the statement was the letter he sent to Education Secretary Linda McMahon, which said that while they will not sign on to the compact, it raises issues “worthy of a broader national conversation to which USC would be eager to contribute its insights and expertise.”

“We are concerned that even though the compact would be voluntary, tying research benefits to it would, over time, undermine the same values of free inquiry and academic excellence that the compact seeks to promote.”

Since returning to the White House in January, President Donald Trump has targeted dozens of universities, particularly so-called elite institutions, with executive orders, lawsuits, reallocations of resources and threats over a range of allegations, from anti-Semitism to the adoption of diversity, equity and inclusion policies.

Critics have accused Trump of trying to coerce schools under threat of stringent punishments — from losing their accreditation to paying hefty fines sometimes in excess of $1 billion — to adopt his far-right policies.

The compact announced Oct. 1 demands reforms to hiring practices and student grading and includes a pledge to prohibit transgender women from using women’s changing rooms.

It also requires the creation of a “vibrant marketplace of ideas,” a tuition freeze for five years and a cap on international enrollment, among other reforms.

After Penn announced its decision, the state’s governor, Josh Shapiro, commended the school for maintaining its independence “in the face of the Trump administration’s attempts to dictate what private colleges and universities teach and use the long arm of the federal government to censor ideas with which they disagree.”

“The Trump administration’s dangerous demands would limit freedom of speech, the freedom to learn and the freedom to engage in constructive debate and dialogue on campuses across the country,” he said in a statement.

“I am in full support of the university’s decision and appreciate the leadership and courage demonstrated by President Jameson and Board Chair [Ramanan] Raghavendran.”

Brown University refused to sign the compact on Wednesday and MIT late last week.

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. — James Franklin is out at Penn State.

The school fired the longtime head coach on Sunday, less than 24 hours after a 22-21 home loss to Northwestern all but ended whatever remote chance the preseason No. 2 team had of reaching the College Football Playoff.

Terry Smith will serve as the interim head coach for the rest of the season for the Nittany Lions (3-3, 0-3 Big Ten), who began the year with hopes of winning the national title only to have those hopes evaporate by early October with three consecutive losses, each one more stinging than the last.

Penn State, which reached the CFP semifinals 10 months ago, fell at home to Oregon in overtime in late September. A road loss at previously winless UCLA followed. The final straw came on Saturday at Beaver Stadium, where the Nittany Lions let Northwestern escape with a victory and lost quarterback Drew Allar to injury for the rest of the season.

Franklin went 104-45 during his 11-plus seasons at Penn State. Yet the Nittany Lions often stumbled against top-tier opponents, going 4-21 against teams ranked in the top 10 during his tenure.

Hired in 2014 in the wake of Bill O’Brien’s departure for the NFL, Franklin inherited a team still feeling the effects of unprecedented NCAA sanctions in the wake of the Jerry Sandusky scandal.

Armed with relentless optimism and an ability to recruit, Franklin’s program regularly churned out NFL-level talent, from Philadelphia Eagles running back Saquon Barkley to Green Bay Packers edge rusher Micah Parsons. Franklin guided the Nittany Lions to the 2016 Big Ten title and a seemingly permanent spot in the rankings.

There was hope this fall might be the one when Penn State would finally break through and win its third national championship and first since 1986. Yet after three easy wins during a light nonconference schedule, the Nittany Lions crumbled.

Athletic director Pat Kraft said the school owes Franklin — who is due nearly $50 million in a buyout — an “enormous amount of gratitude” for leading the Nittany Lions back to relevance but felt it was time to make a change.

“We hold our athletics programs to the highest of standards, and we believe this is the right moment for new leadership at the helm of our football program to advance us toward Big Ten and national championships,” Kraft said.

Smith now will be tasked with trying to stop the bleeding on what has become a disastrous season. He will have his work cut out for him: Penn State’s next three games are at Iowa on Saturday, at No. 1 Ohio State on Nov. 1 and home against No. 3 Indiana on Nov. 8.

The matchups with the Buckeyes and Hoosiers were expected to be a chance for the Nittany Lions to bolster their CFP credentials. In the span of a handful of weeks, Penn State will instead find itself in the role of spoiler.

Johnson writes for the Associated Press. AP Sports Writer Will Graves in Pittsburgh contributed to this report.

One glorious afternoon at the Rose Bowl isn’t enough.

That’s why after they fielded the congratulatory phone calls and text messages, made a celebratory champagne toast and smiled while rewatching game footage for the first time this season, UCLA players and coaches eagerly resumed the pursuit of something more.

“We don’t want to be one-hit wonders,” interim coach Tim Skipper said Monday, “that’s the whole key to this thing — do not be a one-hit wonder, get back to work.”

While beating Michigan State on Saturday at Spartan Stadium wouldn’t generate the same recognition that came with the previously winless Bruins’ recent victory over then-No. 7 Penn State, it would erase any lingering doubts that things just fell into place one wonderful weekend.

UCLA (1-4 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) hopes it discovered a winning formula beyond Jerry Neuheisel’s playcalling, quarterback Nico Iamaleava’s heroics and Skipper’s putting everything together. After seeing his team look listless the previous week against Northwestern, particularly in the game’s early going, Skipper adopted the word “strain” as a rallying cry going into the game against the Nittany Lions.

“It’s just draining your tank and doing everything possible that you can possibly do on every single play for us to achieve success,” Skipper said. “So, strain was mentioned every single day, it was mentioned after the game, and I think that was the major difference. Our guys strained, from the opening kickoff to the very end of the game. We had to strain on every play to get the game to be a positive outcome for us.”

It was favorable for everyone on the team, including position groups that had previously struggled.

Not long after the Bruins held off the Nittany Lions for an epic 42-37 triumph, UCLA offensive line coach Andy Kwon gathered his players for a group photo in the end zone. Kwon posted the photo on the social media platform X, adding a one-word caption: “STRAIN!”

UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava passes against Penn State on Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

The word also was uttered twice during a short video in which athletic director Martin Jarmond delivered the game ball to Skipper.

Two days later, there was some further basking in UCLA’s first victory over a top-10 team since toppling Oregon in 2007. Skipper was named the Dodd Trophy coach of the week, Iamaleava the Associated Press national player of the week and Neuheisel the CBS Sports coordinator of the week.

More important, it was fun to be back in the football practice facility again.

“Smiling. Laughing. Talking,” Skipper said of the scene compared to previous weeks. “When you’re sore after a game, it actually feels pretty good, you know what I mean? Like, a lot of things, just the flow. People laugh at bad jokes now and stuff, you know? Just, man, just joy.”

Meanwhile, Penn State’s falling out of the national rankings was a reminder of how quickly a college football season can change.

The Bruins finally hope to have some stability going into the game against the Spartans (3-2, 0-2) after having installed a new defense one week and a new offense the next in the wake of multiple coaching changes. Skipper said Neuheisel’s ability to explain why he wanted to run plays in certain situations to counter what the defense was doing led to an offense that rolled up a season-high 435 yards of offense, including a season-high 269 on the ground.

“He explained it in a way that he was totally confident in what he was saying,” Skipper said. “And I think everybody felt that and believed in that, and it just carried over into the game.”

Those who fear UCLA’s offense might not be as effective now that there’s footage of what Neuheisel likes to do may not need to worry. Skipper said the playbook would be specifically tailored to each opponent because the team did not have spring practice or fall training camp to install its offense.

“We’re going to watch our opponents in all phases,” Skipper said, “and then we’re going to game plan for them, and then the things that work that we’ve done previously, we’re going to do, and the new things we have to do to establish the game plan the way we want it to go, we’re going to add that to the game plan. So we’re just a work in progress, man.”

One win down, the rest of the season to go.

From Ben Bolch: A team in need of a savior found one in the unlikeliest of places and most familiar of faces.

Jerry Neuheisel, the UCLA tight ends coach who was elevated to playcaller only four days before his winless team faced a top-10 opponent, dialed up an offensive plan that produced points on each of the Bruins’ first five drives.

The fun let up only momentarily on the way to UCLA’s stunning 42-37 victory over No. 7 Penn State on Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl, fans providing their giddy verdict with a chant they unleashed from the opening drive through the fourth quarter.

“Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!”

After UCLA made a final defensive stop to secure its first victory over a top-10 team since beating Oregon in 2007, Neuheisel was hoisted into the air by his grateful players, winless no more.

“He puts that belief in us that we can go out there and execute,” Bruins quarterback Nico Iamaleava said after accounting for five touchdowns on what might have been the finest day of his college career, “and he put together a great game plan for us.”

The question of whether this was a turning point or a temporary reprieve in a lost season remains, but at least for the moment everyone associated with UCLA (1-4 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) could deeply exhale.

“Nobody in the world expected us to win, let’s be honest here,” safety Key Lawrence, who forced a fumble in the third quarter that was recovered by teammate Rodrick Pleasant, said after the Bruins became the first team that had started 0-4 or worse to beat a top-10 team since Texas El Paso, then 0-6, beat No. 7 Brigham Young in 1985.

Continue reading here

UCLA summary

Big Ten standings

DODGERS

From Jack Harris: It wasn’t an impassioned speech. But it proved to be a prescient point.

In the hours before Game 1 of the National League Division Series on Saturday night, the Dodgers’ offense was gathered for their typical pregame hitters meeting when Aaron Bates, one of the hitting coaches, spoke up and offered a reminder to the room.

In this series, Bates knew there would be moments of adversity. And in this ballpark, where 45,000 crazed Philadelphia Phillies fans have created one of the best home-field advantages in all of baseball, the Dodgers needed to be ready to react and respond.

“The intensity and the fans were going to be there early in the game,” he told them, as infielder Miguel Rojas later recalled.

“If something happens early, if Schwarber hits one 800 feet and the roof blows off this place, don’t worry about it,” he added, according to third baseman Max Muncy, “Because when they’re dead silent in the seventh or eighth innings and we’re winning, that’s all that’s gonna matter.”

In the nine innings that followed, that’s exactly how the script played out.

The Phillies landed an early punch, ambushing Shohei Ohtani with a three-run second inning that had Citizens Bank Park shaking on the scale of a small earthquake.

Then the Dodgers answered back, rallying to a resilient 5-3 win that gave them an all-important leg up in this best-of-five series.

Continue reading here

Hernández: Dodgers save Shohei Ohtani, not the other way around, in monumental Game 1 NLDS win

Dodgers box score

MLB POSTSEASON SCHEDULE, RESULTS

NL Division Series
All times Pacific

Dodgers vs. Philadelphia
Dodgers 5, at Philadelphia 3 (box score)
Monday at Philadelphia, 3 p.m., TBS
Wednesday at Dodgers, 6 p.m., TBS
*Thursday at Dodgers, 3 p.m., TBS
*Saturday at Philadelphia, 5 p.m., TBS

Chicago vs. Milwaukee
at Milwaukee 9, Chicago 3 (box score)
Monday at Milwaukee, 6 p.m., TBS
Wednesday at Chicago, 2 p.m., TBS
*Thursday at Chicago, 6 p.m., TBS
*Saturday at Milwaukee, 1:30 p.m., TBS

AL Division Series

Detroit vs. Seattle
Detroit 3, at Seattle 2 (11) (box score)
Sunday at Seattle, 5 p.m., FS1
Tuesday at Detroit, 1 p.m., FS1
*Wednesday at Detroit, noon, FS1
*Friday at Seattle, 1:40 p.m., FS1

New York vs. Toronto
at Toronto 10, New York 1 (box score)
Sunday at Toronto, 1 p.m., FS1
Tuesday at New York, 5 p.m., FS1
*Wednesday at New York, 4 p.m., FS1
*Friday at Toronto, 5 p.m., Fox

*-if necessary

CHARGERS

From Sam Farmer: What started as musical chairs is beginning to sound like a sad trombone.

There’s only so many times you can reshuffle an offensive line before it has a ripple effect on the entire football team. The Chargers are reminded of that now as they head into Sunday’s game with the Washington Commanders hoping — as opposed to knowing — they can provide adequate protection for quarterback Justin Herbert.

After reaching a comfortable cruising altitude with victories over three consecutive AFC West foes, the team is headed for a patch of severe turbulence.

The outstanding Joe Alt, who stepped in at left tackle after Rashawn Slater’s season-ending knee injury, is nursing a high ankle sprain and will not play against Washington. Right guard Mekhi Becton is coming off a concussion and is listed as questionable. So they’re a month into the season and the offensive line is a stitched-together hodgepodge that couldn’t handle the defensive front of the New York Giants last week.

Continue reading here

THIS DAY IN SPORTS HISTORY

1900 — Britain’s Harry Vardon wins the U.S. Open golf title, beating J.H. Taylor with a 313 total at the Chicago Golf Club.

1985 — Eddie Robinson becomes college football’s winningest coach as Grambling beats Prairie View A&M 27-7. It’s Robinson’s 324th victory, one more than Paul “Bear” Bryant had before he retired from Alabama after the 1982 season.

1991 — Fresno State ties an NCAA record for most points in a quarter, with 49 in the second period as it pounds New Mexico 94-17. Fresno State’s Derek Mahoney ties an NCAA record with 13 extra points.

1994 — The NBA shortens the three-point distance to a uniform 22 feet.

1996 — Byron Hanspard rushes for 287 yards, his fifth straight 200-yard game this season, to lead Texas Tech to a 45-24 win over Baylor.

2004 — 7-time All-Star and 6-time NBA Champion forward Scottie Pippen announces his retirement from the NBA.

2005 — Daniel Alfredsson scores twice in the final 6 minutes of regulation and once during the first shootout in NHL history, leading Ottawa to a 3-2 win over Toronto.

2006 — Brendan Shanahan of the New York Rangers becomes the 15th player with 600 goals in the NHL when he scores twice in a 5-2 win over Washington.

2008 — Peyton Manning turns a colossal collapse by the Houston Texans into a stunning victory for the Indianapolis Colts. The Colts score 21 points in a late span of 2:10 — two touchdowns thanks to fumbles by Sage Rosenfels — then intercepts Rosenfels’ last-ditch comeback attempt for a 31-27 win.

2013 — Eighth-ranked Florida State stays undefeated in Atlantic Coast Conference play with a 63-0 victory over No. 25 Maryland. Maryland matches the largest losing margin by a ranked team. UCLA beat No. 11 Texas 66-3, on Sept. 13, 1997.

2013 — Marcus Mariota throws five touchdown passes and runs for two scores as No. 2 Oregon routs Colorado 57-16. The Ducks reach the 50-point plateau for a school record fifth straight time. Oregon has scored at least 55 points in all of its games under first-year coach Mark Helfrich.

2014 — Brian Hoyer’s 6-yard touchdown pass to Travis Benjamin with 1:09 left rallies the Cleveland Browns from a 25-point deficit to beat the Tennessee Titans 29-28. It’s the largest comeback in league history by a road team.

2014 — Denver’s Peyton Manning was 31 of 47 for a career-high 479 yards with four TDs, including the 500th of his career, along with two interceptions to help the Broncos beat Arizona 41-20.

2015 — San Jose Sharks forward Raffi Torres is hit with the longest suspension in NHL history when the league banned him for the first 41 games of the season for an illegal check to the head of Anaheim’s Jakob Silfverberg during an Oct. 3 preseason game.

2017 — Connor McDavid, Alex Ovechkin, Wayne Simmonds and Brandon Saad each record a hat trick in his team’s season opener. It’s the first time four different players score at least three goals in his season opener in 100 years.

THIS DAY IN BASEBALL HISTORY

2001 — Barry Bonds sets a new mark for home runs in a single season, hitting Nos. 71 and 72, but San Francisco is eliminated from the playoffs with an 11-10 loss to the Dodgers.

2001 — The Mariners win their 115th game of the year to become the winningest team in American League history, passing the record the Yankees set three years earlier.

Compiled by the Associated Press

Until next time…

That concludes today’s newsletter. If you have any feedback, ideas for improvement or things you’d like to see, email me at [email protected]. To get this newsletter in your inbox, click here.

A team in need of a savior found one in the unlikeliest of places and most familiar of faces.

Jerry Neuheisel, the UCLA tight ends coach who was elevated to playcaller only four days before his winless team faced a top-10 opponent, dialed up an offensive plan that produced points on each of the Bruins’ first five drives.

The fun let up only momentarily on the way to UCLA’s stunning 42-37 victory over No. 7 Penn State on Saturday afternoon at the Rose Bowl, fans providing their giddy verdict with a chant they unleashed from the opening drive through the fourth quarter.

“Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!”

The game turned tense late, requiring a defensive stop after UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava was stuffed on fourth down, giving the ball back to Penn State at the Bruins’ 32-yard line with two minutes left.

The Nittany Lions reached the nine before UCLA defensive back Scooter Jackson surged into the backfield and dropped quarterback Drew Allar for a three-yard loss with 37 seconds left.

UCLA quarterback Nico Iamaleava (9) evades Penn State defensive end Chaz Coleman (19) to scramble for a gain on Saturday.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

After Bruins punter Will Karoll intentionally stepped out of the back of the end zone for a safety to pull Penn State within five points, the Nittany Lions could not cross midfield before the game ended.

After the final play, Neuheisel was hoisted into the air by his grateful players, winless no more.

“He puts that belief in us that we can go out there and execute,” Iamaleava said after accounting for five touchdowns, “and he put together a great game plan for us.”

The question remains of whether this was a turning point or a temporary reprieve in a lost season, but at least for the moment everyone associated with the team could deeply exhale.

Neuheisel said he found out he would be calling plays at 5 p.m. Tuesday. He estimated that he’s had three hours of sleep since then, the Bruins still conducting walk-throughs to master the offense Saturday morning.

“We had two days to practice the new game plan,” Neuheisel said, and all they did was believe.”

Masterfully running the Neuheisel‘s offense was Iamaleava, who finally had something to show for his cross-country move from Tennessee that made him the talk of the offseason in college football.

“Big-time players make big-time plays, and that’s what he did out there,” UCLA interim coach Tim Skipper said while clutching the game ball.

UCLA wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer (3) celebrates with teammate Titus Mokiao-Atimalala (2) after making a touchdown catch against Penn State in the fourth quarter.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Iamealeava ran for three touchdowns and passed for two more as the Bruins (1-4 overall, 1-1 Big Ten) nearly doubled their previous high point total this season. Facing third and goal midway through the fourth quarter, Iamaleava dropped back before taking off and racing into the front right corner of the end zone. He then zipped a two-point conversion pass into the back of the end zone to Kwazi Gilmer that gave UCLA a 42-28 advantage.

In what might have qualified as his best day as a college player, Iamaleava completed 17 of 24 passes for 166 yards and ran 16 times for 128 yards, including a nifty 52-yard gain in which he spun away from a defender.

Given the circumstances, Neuheisel’s playcalling debut might have been a more valiant effort than his coming off the bench as UCLA’s quarterback in 2014 to lead his team to a comeback victory over Texas.

Remember, those Bruins were nationally ranked.

This version had been nationally lampooned while averaging 14.2 points a game on the way to four consecutive losses that led to the departures of coach DeShaun Foster, defensive coordinator Ikaika Malloe and offensive coordinator Tino Sunseri. Sunseri’s leaving prompted the Bruins to elevate Neuheisel and bring in Noel Mazzone, his old UCLA offensive coordinator and boss for one season at Texas A&M, as an analyst and advisor to his old protege.

Together they devised a scheme that helped the Bruins roll up 446 yards of offense.

“Nobody in the world expected us to win, let’s be honest here,” UCLA safety Key Lawrence said.

The celebrating started at halftime, UCLA players leaping excitedly and flapping their arms as they ran toward the locker room after Mateen Bhaghani’s 54-yard field goal gave the Bruins a stunning 27-7 lead.

To that point, UCLA’s domination was as complete as its failures had been in losing its first four games. The Bruins scored on all five first-half drives, recovered an onside kick and outgained the Nittany Lions, 285-92, in total yardage.

UCLA wide receiver Kwazi Gilmer dives into the end zone on an 11-yard pass in the first half against Penn State.

(Gina Ferazzi / Los Angeles Times)

Signs of what was to come started on the opening drive.

After winning the coin toss and electing to receive, UCLA quickly marched for a score on its opening drive. Gilmer took a short pass from Iamaleava and extended the ball across the goal line for an 11-yard touchdown that gave the Bruins a 7-0 advantage.

Those chants of “Jerry! Jerry! Jerry!” filled the stadium after UCLA took its first lead of the season after 244 minutes 34 seconds of football.

The fun was just getting started for the Bruins. Bhaghani immediately unfurled an onside kick that Kanye Clark recovered, leading to a field goal and a 10-0 cushion on a day that belonged to the blond-haired coach and lifelong Bruin whose debut as a playcaller figures to lead to many new opportunities.

“Just a special, special day,” Neuheisel said. “I don’t know where it would rank, I don’t know how to really put it into words, I just am glad I’m the one who gets to be in it right now.”

There’s already a surprise team emerging in girls’ volleyball.

Harvard-Westlake, under first-year coach Morgan Wijay, is 7-0 and won its division of the Lakewood tournament last week. Wijay left Bishop Alemany to take over a Wolverines program that went 13-15 last season and 2-8 in league. The Wolverines have a showdown match with 3-0 Marymount on Thursday at Marymount.

Maya Stillwell, a 6-foot-4 senior middle blocker who has committed to Northwestern, gives Harvard-Westlake a force in the middle. Another middle blocker is Penn commit Lauryn Lewis, the daughter of former Laker Larry Lewis. Junior opposite hitter Sophia Cotter is committed to Princeton. Outside hitter Kylie Parker is another top player. …

The Palisades football team’s game against Dymally this week was canceled because Dymally did not have enough players, but the Dolphins were able to schedule a game against El Camino Real on Sept. 19.

This is a daily look at the positive happenings in high school sports. To submit any news, please email [email protected].

Some three hours before the Clippers used the 30th and final pick in the first round of the NBA draft to select Penn State’s Yanic Konan Niederhauser, the two top choices went as predicted and then the rest of the order was all over the place Wednesday.

In Konan Niederhauser, the Clippers got a 7-foot center and that was one of the positions they needed help to back up starter Ivica Zubac.

“We always go into the draft board looking for the best available player, and it also coincides this time with a need,” said Lawrence Frank, the Clippers president of basketball operations. “We’ve kind of looked over the years for a center that complements Zu, that does something different than Zu does. Sometimes it’s resulted with guys being undersized where we haven’t been able to maximize it. Yanic has legit positional size and I think the rim-rolling threat, combined with what Zu’s play is, I think in due time will be really, really good.”

As expected, Duke’s talented Cooper Flagg was taken first overall by the Dallas Mavericks. Rutgers’ Dylan Harper, the son of former NBA star and former Laker Ron Harper, was taken second by the San Antonio Spurs.

The rest of the lottery started to take shape with a change, when Baylor’s VJ Edgecombe was taken third by the 76ers.

Duke’s Kon Knueppel went fourth to Charlotte; Rutgers’ Ace Bailey went fifth to the Jazz; Texas’ Tre Johnson went sixth to the Wizards; Oklahoma’s Jeremiah Fears went seventh to the Pelicans; BYU’s Egor Demin went eighth to the Nets; South Carolina’s Collin Murray-Boyles went ninth to the Raptors; Duke’s Khaman Maluach went 10th to the Rockets (but he was traded to the Suns); Washington State’s Cedric Coward was taken 11th by the Trail Blazers (he was traded to the Grizzlies; France’s Noa Esse went 12th to the Bulls, Maryland’s Derik Queen went 13th to the Hawks (he was traded to the Pelicans); and Arizona’s Carter Bryant was taken 14th by the Spurs.

Flagg was at the top of his draft class, a player the Mavericks really needed to take after trading fan favorite Luka Doncic to the Lakers last season, a trade that upset many of Dallas’ fans.

But they now get Flagg, who averaged 19.4 points, 7.5 rebounds and 4.2 assists in his only season with the Blue Devils.

Konan Niederhauser, 22, who grew up in Switzerland, has been dealing with an ankle injury the Clippers don’t think will be a problem.

He averaged 12.9 points and 6.3 rebounds last season at Penn State.

“I think the reason we decided with Yanic is that he’s got great positional size,” Frank said. “He also has some definite traits in the short term that will carry over, like his ability to run the floor, his ability to play behind the defense in the dunker spot, his ability to play screen-and-roll and be a vertical threat. Those are things that will carry over pretty much on day one.”

The Clippers are a veteran-laden team led by Kawhi Leonard and James Harden, and because of that, Coach Tyronn Lue said any young player they take should follow their lead.

“I think the biggest thing is, coming into the draft, if you’re not a Cooper Flagg, a one, two or three pick, you got to find your way, find your niche to get on the floor,” Lue told a group of fans at the team’s draft watch party at Intuit Dome on Wednesday. “Playing without the basketball, because when you come to this team, or any other team, with Kawhi Leonards, James Hardens on the floor, you’re not going to [get a lot of time]. You have to learn how to play the game and make your teammates better and things like that. And then the most important thing is your attitude.”

When the NBA draft continues Thursday with the second round, the Clippers will pick 51st.

The Lakers didn’t have a first-round pick, but they have a second-round pick at No. 55.

For the Clippers, they have a few things to get worked out.

Harden, who averaged 22.8 points per game, 8.7 assists and 5.8 rebounds and was third-team All-NBA, has a player option for $36.3 million and he has to inform the Clippers of his decision by Sunday.

The consensus around the NBA is that Harden will opt out and seek a two-year extension from the Clippers.

Nicolas Batum has a player option for next season that pays him $4.9 million and he has to let the team know by Sunday of his decision. Norman Powell has one more year on his deal that pays him $20.4 million next season and he also is looking for an extension.