Drew Nicholas

Andrew Lawrence "Drew" Nicholas (born May 17, 1981) is an American retired professional basketball player. A 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in) tall shooting guard, Nicholas led the Euroleague 2005–06 season in scoring, averaging 18.4 points per game and thus won the Alphonso Ford Trophy. He also won the EuroLeague twice in 2009 and 2011.

High school

Born in Hempstead, New York, Nicholas played high school basketball at Long Island Lutheran, in New York, from 1995 to 1999.

College career

Nicholas played college basketball at the University of Maryland, College Park with the Maryland Terrapins 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, in the Italian LegADue (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 Serie A 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 club Maccabi Tel Aviv, 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 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 for 7 months since his departure from AJ Milano, Nicholas signed a one-year contract with the Russian club CSKA Moscow. 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 commentator.

Personal

In February 2008, Nicholas refused to travel with Efes Pilsen for their away game against Partizan 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. He was then banned from the club, and shortly after that he was released.

EuroLeague career statistics

Note: The EuroLeague is not the only competition in which the player participated for the team during the season. He also played in domestic competition, and regional competition if applicable.