NASHVILLE—Vanderbilt guard Tyler Tanner is declaring for the NBA Draft while maintaining his college eligibility and, thus, leaving the door open for a return to Vanderbilt.
He’s projected as a fringe first-round pick in the draft and would have to put together an exceptionally-strong pre-draft process to be guaranteed a first-round selection in the draft. Tanner is a polarizing prospect in that he’s undersized and wasn’t a highly-recruited high schooler, but demonstrated a number of NBA traits throughout a breakout sophomore season at Vanderbilt–which resulted in him being named a First-Team All-SEC player.
Tanner averaged 19.5 points, 3.6 rebounds and 5.1 assists per game while shooting 48.5% from the field and 36.8% from 3-point range in 2025-26. That campaign represented a significant leap for Tanner relative to his freshman season–in which he averaged 5.6 points, 2.2 rebounds and 1.9 assists per game.
The NBA Draft talk has followed Tanner everywhere he’s gone since his breakout became widely-publicized early in conference play. Tanner held his cards close to his chest during the season, though, and said that he wasn’t thinking about what the future could hold.
“When you step back and look at it, it's like ‘wow, like, I get to decide on an agency and I get to think about the future a little bit,’” Tanner told Vandy on SI during the NCAA Tournament. “I'm very thankful that I can make those decisions.”
While working to drown out the noise that surrounded him, Tanner helped his draft stock with a few standout performances in the NCAA Tournament.
Tanner went for 26 points–with 17 of them coming in the second half–seven rebounds and five assists in Vanderbilt’s NCAA Tournament win over McNeese in the Round of 64. He was relatively efficient on the way to doing it as he made 7 of his 16 field goal attempts and went 9-for-10 from the free throw line.
Vanderbilt’s tournament run, though, ended in heartbreak as Tanner’s potential game-winning halfcourt heave against Nebraska rimmed in and out. Tanner told Vandy on SI at the time that the shot would haunt him forever, but he’s worked to move past the moment. He’ll continue to do that throughout the pre-draft process.
“The quote that I live by is live where your feet are,” Tanner said during the NCAA Tournament in regard to the decision that lies ahead. “I've learned a lot about balance and everything through it. A lot of it's just leaning on the people close to me about it.”
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Tyler Jorden is currently interning with Vanderbilt Commodores on SI. He's currently studying Sports Media at nearby Lipscomb University in Nashville. Tyler has worked with ESPN, announcing live sporting events. He enjoys watching all sports, has a love for great crowd atmospheres at live games and is the president of the Lippy Lunatics student fall group at Lipscomb.
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