Tyler Nickel, formerly of Vanderbilt basketball, was selected in the second round, 47th overall, in the 2026 NBA Draft by the New York Knicks on June 24.
Nickel, a onetime 4-star recruit, started his career at North Carolina and also played a year at Virginia Tech before heading to Vanderbilt for the 2024-25 season. He spent two seasons with the Commodores, and the best one for the 6-foot-7, 222-pounder came as a senior in 2025-26. The forward helped lead Vanderbilt to back-to-back NCAA Tournaments, including an appearance in the second round in 2026.
He is the first Vanderbilt player drafted since 2020.
What Tyler Nickel brings to the TEAM in 2026 NBA Draft
Nickel projects as a role player at the NBA level. He brings excellent size and shooting as a career 39% 3-point shooter. Nickel is also efficient at scoring around the rim, though he was rarely asked to do that at Vanderbilt, and from the mid-range. He rarely turns the ball over or makes mistakes.
Tyler Nickel highlights, strengths, weaknesses at Vanderbilt
Nickel was one of 10 players in the SEC in 2025-26 to attempt at least 150 3-pointers and shoot at least 40% from deep. Of those players, Nickel’s 275 3-point attempts were tied for the most.
It is worth noting that Nickel provides limited shot creation, as 95% of his 3-pointers were assisted.
Nickel also shot 75% at the rim and 47% on mid-range jumpers, so his scoring ability is not limited to beyond the arc.
Nickel didn’t have the ball in his hands often and rarely drove to the rim. He attempted just 36 layups and 59 free-throws all season. While he doesn’t turn the ball over, he doesn’t pass it out much either, recording 26 turnovers and 43 assists.
During non-conference play, Nickel hit eight threes in a game twice within the span of eight days.
All 🎱 @tnick_5 threes from Sunday 👀
Dores to hit 8+ triples twice in a season:
🔘 Shan Foster
🔘 Tyler Nickel#AnchorDown⚓️⬇️ pic.twitter.com/aohzAFoz3J— Vanderbilt Men’s Basketball (@VandyMBB) December 22, 2025
Tyler Nickel stats at Vanderbilt
In 2025-26, Nickel started all 36 games and played 30.6 minutes per game. He shot 44.5% from the field and 40% from three with an 84.7% free-throw percentage.
He averaged 4.3 rebounds per game, most of which were defensive rebounds, as well as 1.6 assists, one steal and 0.7 blocks.
In his career, which included two years at Vanderbilt plus one at North Carolina and one at Virginia Tech, Nickel had a 43.3% field-goal percentage, a 39.4% 3-point percentage and an 83.8% free-throw percentage.
Aria Gerson covers Vanderbilt athletics for The Tennessean. Contact her at agerson@gannett.com or on X @aria_gerson.
This article originally appeared on Nashville Tennessean: Tyler Nickel of Vanderbilt basketball picked by New York Knicks in NBA Draft
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