How two former Clemson basketball stars are taking on the NBA ... as teammates
They golf together. They go out to eat together. They both send Clemson men’s basketball coach Brad Brownell a lot of postgame congratulatory texts.
Heck, they almost wound up living in the same apartment building last summer — by accident.
In other words: Having former Clemson basketball players and longtime friends Hunter Tyson and PJ Hall on the same NBA roster is going exactly like you think it would be going.
“Those guys are like peas in a pod,” Denver Nuggets coach Michael Malone said Saturday.
Tyson, 24, and Hall, 22, are two of the most accomplished players in Tigers basketball history. As luck would have it, they’re now sharing a professional locker room two years after they last teamed up in college — as the only two active Clemson players in the NBA.
Two years ago, the Nuggets picked Tyson early in the second round of the NBA Draft (No. 37 overall). Last summer, they didn’t own a second-round pick but signed Hall to a two-way deal splitting time with their G League team after he went undrafted.
Now, the former Clemson stars are living out their pro dream in the Mile High City.
“Teaming up together again has been pretty surreal,” Tyson told The State. “Obviously, it’s something we dreamed about and talked about while we were at Clemson. So to see that come to fruition, I’m just thankful to God that he’s put it all together the way he has.”
“We couldn’t have written it any better,” Hall added.
A Clemson legacy
Tyson and Hall made a return trip to the Carolinas over the weekend as the Nuggets played the Charlotte Hornets on Saturday at Spectrum Center and grinded out a 107-104 win. Given their local roots, both Clemson alums also had plenty of fans in the stands in uptown Charlotte.
Tyson grew up 30 minutes from Charlotte in Monroe, North Carolina and ended up distributing 13 tickets to friends and family for the game. Hall, who grew up in the Spartanburg area, had his mom, his dad, his girlfriend and his former coach at Dorman High School in attendance, among others.
Neither player made it into Denver’s win against Charlotte on Saturday — the Nuggets found themselves in a rock fight against the Hornets and played their starters most of the game, keeping Tyson and Hall and other deep reserves on the bench.
But take it from Hall: His NBA experience has been invaluable.
“It’s been a lot of traveling, a lot of stuff going on, a lot of moving parts,” Hall told The State. “But at the end of the day, you’re playing basketball for a job. You’re getting paid. It’s a blessing.”
Doing it alongside his former Clemson roommate? That much sweeter.
Before joining a roster filled with NBA household names including Nikola Jokić, Jamal Murray and Russell Westbrook, Tyson and Hall carved out quite a legacy.
Tyson (6-foot-8, 215 pounds) arrived at Clemson as a three-star recruit and the No. 14 player in the state of North Carolina, per 247Sports. He wound up playing five seasons, earning first-team All-ACC honors in 2023 and becoming the program’s first NBA Draft pick in six years.
Hall (6-foot-10, 245 pounds) was the No. 1 player in South Carolina coming out of high school and lived up to the hype. He left as the program’s No. 7 all-time leading scorer and racked up 689 points as a senior, the most ever by a Clemson player in a single season.
Few NBA evaluators saw Tyson and Hall as lottery picks, or even first-round picks for that matter. But between stats and height and a knack for playing winning basketball, there was plenty to like about the Clemson alums as pro prospects.
“He’s a tremendously hard worker, he’s a great kid and he’s a competitor,” Malone said of Tyson, adding that Hall is “big, strong, physical and skilled.”
“I love their IQ, how hard they play and how tough they are,” he said.
Breaking into the league
Playing time has been another story. Denver won the NBA championship two years ago and has one of the best players in the world: Jokić, a transformative center and three-time MVP who’s entering his prime. The Nuggets, currently 31-19 and fourth in the Western Conference standings, are in “win now” mode.
So, Tyson and Hall aren’t exactly lighting it up like they did in the ACC.
But they’re making noticeable strides.
Last year, Tyson played most of the season with the G League’s Grand Rapids Gold and only appeared in 18 Nuggets games, averaging 2.7 minutes a contest. This year, he’s played with Denver all year, appeared in 34 of 50 games and nearly tripled his minutes (7.5 per game).
That includes nine games of 10-plus minutes, a strong seven-point, four-rebound, four-assist outing against the Jazz and a big dunk down the middle of the lane against the Suns.
“I don’t take any opportunity lightly, whether it’s the last two minutes of a game or throwing me in in the first quarter,” said Tyson, who’s averaging 2.1 points per game. “Whatever it is, I just really want to try and make the most of each opportunity.”
Hall, a center, is on the same first-year trajectory as his Clemson teammate. To date, he’s played in 10 of the Nuggets’ 50 games and averaged 2.8 minutes and 1.1 points.
But he’s been dominant at the G League level: Hall has averaged 19.3 points, 12.8 rebounds and 2.1 assists in the nine games he’s played for the Nuggets’ developmental team while shooting 51.1% from the field and 34.4% on 3-pointers.
Hall also had eight consecutive double-doubles for Grand Rapids before getting called up to the Nuggets in January, and he’s been invited to play in the G League’s “Up Next Game” for top prospects during the NBA’s 2025 All-Star Weekend.
Between Jokić, other veteran players, Malone and the Nuggets’ G League coach, former NBA point guard Andre Miller, Hall has “tons of mentors trying to push me along the way and teach me the ropes and stuff,” he said.
‘The best of friends’
And, of course, there’s the Clemson connection. Everyone in Ball Arena knows that Tyson and Hall go together like peanut butter and jelly. They hang out together and are the city’s two most loyal Tigers basketball fans, watching their old team play as much as they can.
Last summer, Hall also decided on a downtown Denver apartment building without realizing Tyson had lived in the exact same building his rookie year. But Tyson wanted more room and had moved to a larger place across town, weeks before Hall signed with Denver.
Hall now lives in Tyson’s old building … one floor above Tyson’s old apartment.
They will not be rooming together again like they did in college, though.
“I understand why,” Hall said. “I’m a little messy.”
“They’re really the best of friends, so for those guys to be able to spend that much time together is terrific,” added Brownell, whose Clemson team is 18-4 and 10-1 in the ACC this season.
And yes, their synergy extends past potential living situations. On Nov. 23, the Nuggets were blowing out the Lakers and Hall subbed in late. In the game’s final minute, he scored his first career NBA points, cutting to the basket, catching a pass from a teammate and putting down a reverse dunk.
You’ll never guess who threw him the ball.
This story was originally published February 4, 2025 at 7:00 AM.
