The New York Knicks had a difficult decision on their hands with second-round pick Tyler Nickel. Sign him to a full roster spot and not add a veteran ready to help a championship team now, or try to force him onto a two-way deal even after his impressive summer league performance?
That decision just became much more difficult, as Nickel was handed a golden crowbar of leverage. If the Knicks try to lowball him, either in the contract amount or with a two-way deal, he can now take his toys and go home. Or, to put it literally, he can reject the Knicks and go back to college.
College basketball is changing
No NBA team knows better than the Knicks the shifting sands of college basketball and player eligibility. Around Christmas last year, former draft pick James Nnaji announced he was coming to America -- not to join the Knicks, but to play in college basketball. He signed with the Baylor Bears and shuffled through a ho-hum season.
Then it was Dink Pate, an undrafted player who spent last season in the Knicks' G League system in Westchester. He is heading to college to play for the Providence Friars just up the road from the Knicks.
Now the Knicks could be hit with another whammy. The NCAA, in trying to get a handle on all manner of players trying to come and return to college, passed a new rule that limits players to five years of eligibility once they finish high school or turn 19, whichever comes first. Get injured? Take a gap year to see Europe? Doesn't matter -- five years and it's over.
What that also does, however, is give players who take the traditional route an extra year of eligibility. Where before, if a player suited up as a true freshman, they could play just four seasons of college basketball, now they can play for five.
For a player like Tyler Nickel, he just missed out on the "5x5" rule. As a member of the high school class of 2022, he played his four seasons in college and then moved on to the NBA Draft. Some of his peers, however, not lucky or good enough to be drafted by an NBA team, felt that their exclusion from the rule was unfair -- and took to the courts.
Friday, a Colorado judge named Charlotte Sweeney ruled in their favor, granting a preliminary injunction to make all members of the class of 2022 eligible for a fifth season -- this year, specifically. Now dozens, if not hundreds, of newly eligible veteran players will be flooding into the transfer portal and joining teams, causing chaos and pushing other players aside who thought they had secured a certain spot with their teams.
What does this mean for the Knicks? Well, it means Tyler Nickel now has leverage.
Tyler Nickel can return to school
The sharpshooting forward has suddenly gained a year of eligibility for college, where he was certainly a highly paid part of a successful Vanderbilt program last season. His offensive impact would be welcome at any number of schools, many of whom could whip up a lucrative NIL contract for him.
Nickel balled out in Las Vegas, and many Knicks fans are understandably excited about what he could bring to the team. The Knicks have a chance to offer him a player-friendly contract to join the main roster. It is very possible that he would take that.
If they try to exert some leverage, however, to convince him to take a more team-friendly deal, or the aforementioned two-way contract slot, Nickel could decide to test the college waters. He will almost certainly make more money in college than in the NBA this season, but it also means delaying the clock on future earnings in the NBA.
The Knicks are not facing disaster; they will retain his rights, so if he goes and lights it up for Vanderbilt or Kentucky or St. John's next season, he will be right back here in a year. But if they are counting on him for this season, then they need to find a way to pay up.
If not, Nickel now has another path legally opened up to him. And it would leave the Knicks without a talented player they just might need.
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