Andrew Lawrence Nicholas (born May 17, 1981) is an American former professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular court, compete with the primary objective of shooting a basketball (approximately in diameter) through the defender's h ...

player. A shooting guard, Nicholas was the leading scorer in the EuroLeague 2005–06 season, being awarded the Alphonso Ford Trophy. He is a two-time EuroLeague champion, winning in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

and 2011 with Panathinaikos.

High school

Born in Hempstead,

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

, Nicholas played high school basketball at

Long Island Lutheran Long Island Lutheran Middle and High School (commonly known as LuHi) is a Christian college University-preparatory school, preparatory school in Brookville, New York, United States. It was founded and built in 1960 on a estate and has a student b ...

, in

, from 1995 to 1999.

College career

Nicholas 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 ...

at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland. Founded in 1856, UMD is the flagship institution of the University System of ...

with the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Divis ...

from 1999 to 2003. In 2002, Nicholas helped Maryland win its first National Championship. He made the All- Atlantic Coast Conference 2nd Team in his senior season in college. His most memorable moment came in the 2003 NCAA Tournament when he hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to win a first-round game against UNC-Wilmington. He also hit a three-pointer at the buzzer to give coach Gary Williams his 500th career coaching victory against NC State.

Professional career

Nicholas was selected in the 2003 USBL Draft by the Texas Rim Rockers (59th overall). He then moved to Italy for the 2003–04 season, signed by

Fabriano Basket Fabriano Basket was an Italian professional basketball club based in Fabriano, Marche. Established in 1966, it played in the professional first and second divisions from 1979 to 2008, the side disappeared in June 2008 when it sold its right to p ...

, in the Italian

LegADue Serie A2, known for sponsorship reasons as Serie A2 Old Wild West, is a men's basketball league in Italy. It constitutes the second-tier of the Italian league pyramid, below the first division LBA and above the third division Serie B, with pro ...

( Italy's 2nd-tier level league). He led Legadue in scoring with 27.1 points per game that season. He was signed for the 2004–05 season by Basket Livorno. He led Italy's top-tier level

LBA LBA or lba may refer to: Science * Live blood analysis, the observation of live blood cells through a dark field microscope * Long branch attraction, an error in molecular phylogeny * Ligand binding assay, an assay whose procedure relies on the b ...

in scoring with 22.8 points per game. At the end of the Italian League's regular season, he moved to Spain, signed for the remainder of the season by TAU Ceramica. He then went back to Italy for the 2005–06 season, signed by Benetton Treviso. He led the EuroLeague in scoring with 18.4 points per game. He moved to Turkey for the 2006–07 season, signed by Efes Pilsen. In March 2008, he briefly negotiated with the

Israeli Super League The Israeli Premier League ( he, ליגת העל, ''Ligat Ha`Al'', ), is a professional association football league which operates as the highest division of the Israeli Football League – the state's league of Israel. The league is contested b ...

club

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv ( he, מכבי תל אביב) is one of the largest sports clubs in Israel, and a part of the Maccabi association. Many sports clubs and teams in Tel Aviv are in association with Maccabi and compete in a variety of sports, such ...

, on a three-year contract offer, but he was unable to reach a final contractual agreement with the club. On June 24, 2008, he signed a two-year contract with Greek club Panathinaikos. Nicholas helped Panathinaikos win the 2009 and 2011 EuroLeague championships. He also won the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup ( el, Κύπελλο Ελλάδος Ποδοσφαίρου), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Kypello Elladas is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second most i ...

in 2009, as well as the Greek League championship in 2009, 2010, and 2011. In July 2011, he signed with Italian club Armani Jeans Milano. In January 2012, Nicholas was waived by Armani Jeans Milano. In July 2012, after being a

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

for 7 months since his departure from AJ Milano, Nicholas signed a one-year contract with the Russian club

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow (russian: ЦСКА Москва) is a Russian sports club based in Moscow. It was created in 1911 in the Russian Empire on base of OLLS (Skiing Society, founded 1901). Later, during the Soviet Union, Soviet era, it was a central piece ...

. However, on November 23, 2012, Nicholas reached an agreement to terminate his contract with the team, by mutual agreement. In July 2013, he officially announced his retirement from playing professional basketball, after having played his last game in 2012.

Post playing career

After he retired from playing professional basketball, Nicholas became a basketball analyst and

sports commentator In sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real-time commentary of a game or event, usually during a live broadcast, traditionally delivered in the historical present tense. Radio wa ...

. In 2016 he joined the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the league's Western Conference Northwest Division. Founded in 19 ...

as a scout.

Personal life

In February 2008, Nicholas refused to travel with Efes Pilsen for their away game against

Partizan Partizan may refer to: Sport * JSD Partizan, a sports society from Belgrade, Serbia, which includes the following clubs: ** AK Partizan, athletics **Biciklistički Klub Partizan, cycling **Džudo Klub Partizan, judo ** FK Partizan, association fo ...

in Belgrade, due to a recommendation for U.S. citizens not to visit Serbia, which was related to the tension that was caused after the declaration of the independence of

Kosovo Kosovo ( sq, Kosova or ; sr-Cyrl, Косово ), officially the Republic of Kosovo ( sq, Republika e Kosovës, links=no; sr, Република Косово, Republika Kosovo, links=no), is a partially recognised state in Southeast Eur ...

. He was then banned from the club, and shortly after that he was released.Efes Pilsen releases Nicholas, Wright
/ref>

EuroLeague career statistics

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2005–06 , style="text-align:left;", Benetton , 20 , , 17 , , 33.8 , , .479 , , .457 , , .827 , , 2.8 , , 2.7 , , 1.1 , , .1 , , style="background:#CFECEC;", 18.4 , , 16.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2006–07 , style="text-align:left;", Efes Pilsen , 20 , , 20 , , 34.3 , , .429 , , .400 , , .726 , , 2.5 , , 2.5 , , 3.8 , , .2 , , 13.9 , , 13.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , style="text-align:left;", Efes Pilsen , 14 , , 12 , , 32.5 , , .430 , , .353 , , .729 , , 3.0 , , 2.9 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 16.5 , , 14.1 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;", 2008–09† , style="text-align:left;", Panathinaikos , 22 , , 16 , , 23.5 , , .429 , , .408 , , .615 , , 1.3 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 8.3 , , 6.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , style="text-align:left;", Panathinaikos , 16 , , 15 , , 27.6 , , .433 , , .410 , , .667 , , 1.2 , , 2.2 , , .9 , , .2 , , 10.5 , , 7.9 , - , style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;",

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

† , style="text-align:left;", Panathinaikos , 20 , , 6 , , 23.0 , , .437 , , .415 , , .600 , , 1.1 , , 1.7 , , .4 , , .1 , , 9.8 , , 6.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2011–12 , style="text-align:left;",

Milano Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ha ...

, 14 , , 8 , , 26.4 , , .302 , , .297 , , .625 , , 2.6 , , 1.7 , , .5 , , .2 , , 7.4 , , 4.2 , - , style="text-align:left;",

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

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

, 4 , , 1 , , 15.0 , , .067 , , .000 , , .000 , , .5 , , .8 , , .0 , , .0 , , .5 , , -3.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:left;", Career , style="text-align:left;", , 130 , , 95 , , 28.2 , , .422 , , .391 , , .737 , , 2.1 , , 2.3 , , .8 , , .1 , , 11.8 , , 9.4

References

External links

Euroleague.net ProfileItalian League Profile

Spanish League Profile

Turkish League Profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nicholas, Drew 1981 births Living people 20th-century African-American people 21st-century African-American sportspeople African-American basketball players American expatriate basketball people in Greece American expatriate basketball people in Italy American expatriate basketball people in Russia American expatriate basketball people in Spain American expatriate basketball people in Turkey American men's basketball players Anadolu Efes S.K. players Basket Livorno players Basketball players from New York (state) Fabriano Basket players Greek Basket League players Lega Basket Serie A players Liga ACB players Maryland Terrapins men's basketball players Olimpia Milano players Pallacanestro Treviso players PBC CSKA Moscow players Panathinaikos B.C. players People from Hempstead (town), New York Point guards Saski Baskonia players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Nassau County, New York