Knicks' Tyler Nickel Plans May Drastically Change on Wednesday

It sounds silly to say, but we’ve reached the point in college basketball where you can now enter the draft, get selected and still go back to college. This is a potential scenario the New York Knicks are staring at with Tyler Nickel, whom they drafted with the No. 47 pick a few weeks back out of Vanderbilt.

Stemming from a class-wide preliminary injunction, the NCAA has ruled that all athletes from the 2022 high school class are eligible for next season. Nickel and four other unsigned second-round picks (Richie Saunders, Braden Smith, Dillon Mitchell and Lajae Jones) meet the eligibility criteria to go back to school in the fall as domestic draft-and-stash prospects.

On top of this new wrinkle, Wednesday is also the deadline the Knicks have to decide whether to offer Nickel a contract. As long as they issue the required tender—a one-year minimum-salary contract offer—they'll retain his draft rights, even if he returns to college for a fifth year.

However, this doesn't mean there will be an answer right away and there’s no guarantee he’ll accept an offer, especially if it is a two-way deal. He may ultimately opt to go back to college in hopes of boosting his stock with a bigger opportunity or cashing in with NIL, which makes that route more lucrative than settling for a two-way.

It's important to note, though, that New York would retain his draft rights, even if a deal isn't agreed to and Nickel goes back to collegiate hoops.

The New York Knicks will have impactful news today regarding Tyler Nickel. Today, August 5th is the deadline for teams to tender an offer to their 2nd Rd picks from the @NBA Draft.

The Knicks can offer an NBA contract or even a 2-way deal to retain his rights.

CBS Sports' Isaac… pic.twitter.com/mI3nKXunGn
— Fritz Alcindor Jr. (@FritzHandles) August 5, 2026

A few months ago, Nickel entered his name into the transfer portal, just in case such a ruling came down. There could be financial implications for the 22-year-old as his NIL valuation last season was estimated between $1 million and $1.4 million, per the Nashville Post. Meanwhile, a two-way contract pays $678,882 for the 2026–27 season, which equals exactly half of the rookie minimum salary.

Despite the promise he showed in Summer League, Nickel seems unlikely to land a standard contract due to the Knicks' financial crunch and roster crush. They currently have 13 players under contract and only have wiggle room under the second apron for either one veteran minimum deal or one rookie.

Based on the Knicks need for a third center and just one roster spot being affordable at the moment, Nickel appeared penciled in for a two-way deal before the NCAA's ruling. Of course, the Knicks could promise him a standard roster spot once they have the cap flexibility to sign a 15th man, which would likely be sometime in early February, assuming a few trades come to fruition.

During Summer League, Nickel was one of the few bright spots and showed why he can have a long, fruitful NBA career. He made 19-of-46 threes (41.3 percent) and was better than advertised on defense. The 6-foot-7 wing has a high motor and was mostly in the right spots.

The sharpshooter clearly has potential to produce in a specific role in the NBA. But his path to the Knicks opening night roster isn't so clear just yet.

It’s hard to imagine Nickel turning down playing for the defending world champions and living in the best city in the world to go back to college. It doesn't hurt that his Dad, Eric, grew up as a Knicks fan on Long Island and played college ball for SUNY Plattsburgh.

That said, this is a new era of college athletics and eligibility, which complicates any plans New York might've had for Nickel.

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