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 Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player. A

shooting guard The shooting guard (SG), also known as the two, two guard or off guard,Shooting guards are 6'3"–6'7"BBC Sports academy URL last accessed 2006-09-09. is one of the five traditional basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game ...

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

EuroLeague The EuroLeague is a European men's professional basketball club competition. The league is widely recognised as the top-tier and the most prestigious men's basketball league in Europe. The league consists of 20 teams, of which 16 are given lon ...

champion, winning in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

and

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

with

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos (, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club based in the City of Athens. Panathinaikos is one of the mos ...

High school

Born in Hempstead,

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

, Nicholas played high school basketball at Long Island Lutheran, in

, from 1995 to 1999.

College career

Nicholas played

college basketball College basketball is basketball that is played by teams of Student athlete, student-athletes at universities and colleges. In the Higher education in the United States, United States, colleges and universities are governed by collegiate athle ...

at the

University of Maryland, College Park The University of Maryland, College Park (University of Maryland, UMD, or simply Maryland) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in College Park, Maryland, United States. Founded in 1856, UMD i ...

with the

Maryland Terrapins The Maryland Terrapins, commonly referred to as the Terps, consist of 19 men's and women's college sports in the United States, varsity intercollegiate athletic teams that represent the University of Maryland, College Park in National Collegiate ...

from 1999 to 2003. In 2002, Nicholas helped Maryland win its first national championship. He made the All-

Atlantic Coast Conference The Atlantic Coast Conference (ACC) is a collegiate List of NCAA conferences, athletic conference in the United States. Headquartered in Charlotte, North Carolina, the ACC's eighteen member universities compete in the National Collegiate Athlet ...

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 The University of North Carolina Wilmington, or University of North Carolina at Wilmington, (UNC Wilmington or UNCW) is a public research university in Wilmington, North Carolina. It is part of the University of North Carolina system and enrol ...

. 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 The United States Basketball League (USBL) was a professional men's spring basketball league. The league was formed in 1985 and ceased operations in 2008. The USBL started in 1985 as one of the first basketball leagues to play a late-spring to ...

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 ...

( 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 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 Anadolu Efes Biracılık ve Malt Sanayii A.Ş.'' (lit. Anadolu Efes Brewery and Malt Industries)'' produces and markets beer and malt and non-alcoholic beverages in Turkey, the United States, Russia, the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), E ...

. In March 2008, he briefly negotiated with the Israeli Super League club

Maccabi Tel Aviv Maccabi Tel Aviv () 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 as football, basketball, j ...

, 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

. Nicholas helped Panathinaikos win the 2009 and 2011 EuroLeague championships. He also won the

Greek Cup The Greek Football Cup (), commonly known as the Greek Cup or Betsson Greek Cup for sponsorship reasons is a Greek football competition, run by the Hellenic Football Federation. The Greek Cup is the second-most important domestic men's footba ...

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 or manager 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 a contract at present ...

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

CSKA Moscow CSKA Moscow () 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 the central part of the Armed Forces (sports ...

. 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 Broadcasting of sports events, sports broadcasting, a sports commentator (also known as a sports announcer or sportscaster) provides a real time (media), real-time live commentary of a game or event, traditionally delivered in the present t ...

. In 2016 he joined the

Minnesota Timberwolves The Minnesota Timberwolves (often referred to as the Wolves or T-wolves) are an American professional basketball team based in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Divisio ...

as a scout. He then moved on to similar roles with the Philadelphia 76ers and the Boston Celtics. He is currently the Director of Scouting for the Denver Nuggets.

Personal life

In February 2008, Nicholas refused to travel with

for their away game against Partizan in

Belgrade Belgrade is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city of Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers and at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin, Pannonian Plain and the Balkan Peninsula. T ...

, 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, officially the Republic of Kosovo, is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe with International recognition of Kosovo, partial diplomatic recognition. It is bordered by Albania to the southwest, Montenegro to the west, Serbia to the ...

. He was then banned from the club, and shortly after that he was released.Efes Pilsen releases Nicholas, Wright
/ref> He has an extensive front office resume and currently works with the Denver Nuggets in Denver, CO, where he resides with his wife and three children.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2005–06 , style="text-align:left;",

Treviso Treviso ( ; ; ) is a city and (municipality) in the Veneto region of northern Italy. It is the capital of the province of Treviso and the municipality has 87.322 inhabitants (as of December 2024). Some 3,000 live within the Venetian wall ...

, 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;" rowspan="2", Efes , 20 , , 20 , , 34.3 , , .429 , , .400 , , .726 , , 2.5 , , 2.5 , , 3.8 , , .2 , , 13.9 , , 13.1 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2007–08 , 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;" rowspan="3",

, 22 , , 16 , , 23.5 , , .429 , , .408 , , .615 , , 1.3 , , 1.2 , , 1.0 , , .1 , , 8.3 , , 6.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2009–10 , 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, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

† , 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 ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nearly 1.4 million, while i ...

, 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, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

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

, 4 , , 1 , , 15.0 , , .067 , , .000 , , , , .5 , , .8 , , , , , , .5 , , -3.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan=2, Career , 130 , , 95 , , 28.2 , , .422 , , .391 , , .737 , , 2.0 , , 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 sportsmen 21st-century African-American sportsmen 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 Basketball players from Nassau County, New York Basket Livorno players 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 Point guards Saski Baskonia players Shooting guards Sportspeople from Hempstead, New York