Former Clemson basketball, football player earns NBA summer league opportunity
Clemson’s Ian Schieffelin is getting an NBA opportunity.
The former All-ACC Tigers forward — who put his pro basketball career on hold to play for Clemson’s football team in 2025 — will play for the Miami Heat’s NBA summer league team, his agents announced Monday.
Schieffelin was the ACC’s most improved player as a junior and a second team all-conference pick after averaging 12.4 points, 9.4 rebounds and 2.7 assists per game.
Instead of immediately pursuing pro basketball, though, Schieffelin took advantage of an NCAA rule allowing athletes to play a fifth year in a different sport and suited up as a tight end for coach Dabo Swinney and the Clemson football team in 2025.
The 6-foot-8 Schieffelin appeared in eight of 12 games for Clemson and took 20 offensive snaps. He caught two passes for 11 yards and was targeted in the end zone a few other times. He also played on the team’s field goal block unit.
He announced in December he was stepping away from the football team before its bowl game and would start training for a return to pro basketball.
Schieffelin, in his statement, spoke candidly about how he “took a chance on myself” by switching from basketball to football for one season and how he and Swinney discussed how he could always return to basketball after the season.
He admitted in as many words his football experiment failed but said he enjoyed the opportunity. Schieffelin became the first player to appear in at least one Clemson football and men’s basketball game since DeAndre Hopkins in 2009-10.
“It didn’t work out for me the way I wanted,” Schieffelin wrote. “... To be able to get back on the court as soon as possible, I have to begin training and preparing now.”
Schieffelin was listed at 240 pounds in his final year on Clemson’s basketball roster and added roughly 20 pounds to play football. He spent the spring getting back into basketball shape and will now play for the Heat in the 2026 NBA Summer League.
The Heat will compete in the California Classic Summer League in San Francisco July 3-6 as well as the marquee NBA Summer League in Las Vegas July 9-19.
Other Clemson players in NBA summer league
Schieffelin isn’t the only former Tiger playing in NBA Summer League.
Former Clemson guards Chase Hunter (Golden State Warriors) and Jestin Porter (Memphis Grizzlies) are also playing in the event, the team announced. Hunter played for the New Orleans Pelicans’ G-League team last year after going undrafted, and Porter is entering his first pro season.
Two other potential Clemson summer league candidates are former forwards Viktor Lakhin and RJ Godfrey. Lakhin played for the Oklahoma City Thunder’s G-League team last year. Godfrey (12.0 PPG, 5.3 RPG) was Clemson’s leading scorer this season/
This story was originally published June 29, 2026 at 12:18 PM.
