Former Vanderbilt basketball guard Tyler Tanner and forward Tyler Nickel are both invited to the NBA draft combine, the league announced on May 1.
The combine runs May 10-17 with NBA scouts in attendance. May 27 is the deadline for early entry candidates to withdraw from the pre-draft process while maintaining collegiate eligibility.
Tanner is a sophomore who declared for the draft in April but maintained his option to return to college.
Nickel is not expected to have any eligibility remaining, even as the NCAA pushes forward with a proposal to allow athletes a five-year window to play five seasons. The proposal does not include a provision to retroactively apply to players who have already exhausted their four-year eligibility.
The NBA draft will take place June 23–24 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York.
Tanner averaged 19.5 points, 5.1 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 2.4 steals in 33.5 minutes per game as a sophomore and shot 48.5% from the field, 36.8% from 3-point range and 85.3% from the free-throw line. He started all 36 games for the Commodores as they went 27-9, their best record in 33 years, and reached the second round of the Men’s NCAA Tournament.
Nickel played one year at North Carolina, one year at Virginia Tech and two years with the Commodores. In 2025-26, he averaged 13.5 points per game and shot 40% from 3-point range.
The purpose is to put draft prospects in front of NBA scouts as GMs prepare their picks.
It’s essentially one last chance for players to physically improve their stock. For players who may still return to college, the feedback is essential. If scouts aren’t high on a prospect, that can generally steer players back to college to play another year.
Tyler Palmateer covers high school sports for The Tennessean. Have a story idea for Tyler? Reach him at [email protected] and on the X platform,@tpalmateer83.
He also contributes to The Tennessean’s high school sports newsletter, The Bootleg.Subscribe to The Bootleg here.
