Demetris Nichols

Demetris Nichols
Demetris Nichols
Born	September 4, 1984 (age 42); United States
Occupation	Professional basketball player (retired)
Known for	Playing in the NBA and European leagues

Adapted from the English Wikipedia article Demetris Nichols, available under CC BY-SA 4.0Updated 28 November 2025

Demetris Nichols (born September 4, 1984) is a retired American professional basketball athlete who played both the small forward and power forward roles. He competed collegiately for the Syracuse Orange and later participated in the National Basketball Association (NBA) with teams including the Cleveland Cavaliers, Chicago Bulls, and New York Knicks.

High school career

Under the guidance of coach Mike Hart at St. Andrew's High School, Nichols led his squad to a 28–8 record and secured the New England Prep School Athletic Conference championship, contributing 15 points and 13 rebounds in the title game. During his final high school season, he posted averages of 18.6 points and 8.9 rebounds per contest.

His accolades encompassed being a three-time Street & Smith's Honorable Mention All-American, earning third-team Parade All-American honors in 2003, receiving the Rhode Island Gatorade Player of the Year award, and being named an EA Sports Roundball Game All-American. Ranked 50th overall and 14th among small forwards by ESPN.com, Nichols attracted recruitment interest from Syracuse University.

College career

In his freshman campaign at Syracuse, Nichols appeared in 26 games, starting in 15, with a season-best performance of 17 points and seven rebounds against Providence. He played a role in critical NCAA Tournament matchups as Syracuse advanced to the Sweet 16. A back injury limited his sophomore year to 27 games, where he averaged 3.9 points and 2.1 rebounds.

Nichols made notable progress during his junior year, improving to averages of 13.3 points and 5.8 rebounds per game—ranking second on the team in scoring and third in rebounding. He notched a season-high 28 points versus Connecticut and averaged 13 points along with 4.8 rebounds throughout the Big East Tournament.

His senior year marked his peak collegiate performance, as he earned unanimous selection to the All-Big East First Team along with NABC and USBWA All-District First Team honors. Leading the Big East in scoring with an average of 18.9 points per game—and ranking third during conference play at 17.9 points—Nichols set a Syracuse record by scoring 37 points, including seven three-pointers, against St. John's.

In March 2007, he participated in the State Farm College Three-Point Championship, finishing as runner-up to Aaron Brooks.

Concluding his tenure at Syracuse, Nichols ranked tied for 28th all-time in scoring (1,344 points), third in three-point field goals made (205), fourth in attempts (573), and tenth in three-point shooting percentage (.358).

Professional career

Selected with the 53rd pick in the second round of the 2007 NBA draft by the Portland Trail Blazers, Nichols was promptly traded to the New York Knicks in exchange for a second-round pick in the 2008 draft.

During the 2007 NBA Summer League, Nichols averaged 15.6 points on an efficient 53% shooting clip for the Knicks, helping them achieve an undefeated 5–0 record. After declining the Knicks' proposal to play overseas for the 2007–08 season, he parted ways with his agent and secured a roster spot with New York on October 1, 2007; however, he was waived later that month as the team reduced its roster to fifteen players.

On October 29, Nichols signed with the Cleveland Cavaliers, initially serving as a bench player before making his debut on November 28. He was released in early December to make room for Anderson Varejão on the roster. Subsequently claimed by the Chicago Bulls, Nichols was assigned to their D-League affiliate, the Iowa Energy, where he averaged an impressive 19.3 points across fourteen games before being recalled by Chicago in January 2008. He appeared in two games early in the following season (2008–09) before being waived in November and rejoining Iowa Energy shortly thereafter.

In March 2009, Nichols signed a ten-day contract with the Knicks. Later that year, he took his career abroad by signing with French club BCM Gravelines. In summer 2010, he participated again in the NBA Summer League representing the Portland Trail Blazers, after which he signed for that season with French team JA Vichy.

August 2012 saw Nichols compete for Dominican Republic’s Metros de Santiago before joining the NBA D-League's Sioux Falls Skyforce later that year. His performances earned him a spot on the Prospects All-Star roster for the 2013 NBA D-League All-Star Game.

In September 2013, Nichols inked a deal with Russian outfit Krasnye Krylia. The following August, he joined elite club CSKA Moscow initially on a two-week trial that extended through the entire 2014–15 campaign. That season CSKA captured the VTB United League championship with Nichols contributing significantly to their playoff sweep over BC Khimki. He renewed his contract for one more year in July 2015 before departing from CSKA Moscow in June 2016.

For the 2016–17 season, Nichols signed with Greek powerhouse Panathinaikos. The next season found him playing for Croatian team Cedevita Zagreb. In August 2018, Nichols agreed to terms with Italian side Sidigas Avellino for competition during the 2018–19 LBA season.

International career

Nichols competed with the 2002 USA Development Festival East Team, which concluded the tournament with a 3-2 record, securing the silver medal. Over the course of five games, he posted averages of 14.8 points and 5.6 rebounds.

In 2004, he received an invitation to try out for the USA Basketball World Championship For Young Men's Qualifying Team and took part in preliminary training sessions; however, he was not selected for the final squad.

Regular season

|- | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| | style="text-align:left;"| Cleveland | 3 || 0 || 4.7 || .125 || .000 || .000 || .3 || .0 || .0 || .0 || .7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| Chicago | 11 || 0 || 2.7 || .333 || .300 || .000 || .4 || .1 || .0 || .3 || 1.2 |- | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| | style="text-align:left;"| Chicago | 2 || 0 || 2.5 || .250 || .000 || .000 || .0 || .5 || .0 || .0 || 1.0 |- | style="text-align:left;"| New York | 2 || 0 || 4.5 || .400 || .000 || .500 || 1.0 || .5 || .0 || .5 || 2.5 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 18 || 0 || 3.2 || .281 || .200 || .500 || .4 || .1 || .0 || .2 || 1.2

EuroLeague

†	Indicates a EuroLeague championship season for Nichols
*	Denotes league leader

|- | style="text-align:left;"| 2014–15 | style="text-align:left;" rowspan="2"| CSKA Moscow | 27 || 1 || 12.3 || .556 || style="background:#CFECEC;"|.575* || .833 || 3.2 || .3 || .6 || .4 || 4.6 || 4.5 |- | style="text-align:left;background:#AFE6BA;"| 2015–16† | 23 || 3 || 12.1 || .479 || .366 || .667 || 1.4 || .7|| .5|| .5|| 4.0|| 3.7 |- | style="text-align:left;"| 2016–17 | style="text-align:left;" | Panathinaikos | 32|| 19||15.2||.453||.354||.875||2.3||.3||.3||.3||3.8||3.6 |- class="sortbottom" | style="text-align:center;" colspan="2"| Career | 82||23||13.4||.474||.426||.800||2.0||.4||.5||.4||4.1||3.9

Domestic leagues

Season	Team	League	GP	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2007–08	Iowa Energy	D-League	14	37.4	.450	.333	.778	4.2	2.8	1.1	1.0	19.3
2008–09	Iowa Energy	D-League	18	39.2	.475	.417	.850	5.4	3.1	1.2	1.2	22.1
2009–10	BCM Gravelines	LNB Pro A	27	16.6	.415	.357	.774	2.1	0.6	0.4	0.3	6.7
2010–11	JA Vichy		21	34.6	.498	.342	.833	5.4	2.2	1.5	0.9	18.2
2011–12	Cholet Basket		8	25.9	500	500	889	3,5	1,5	1,0	1,0	14,9
2012	Metros de Santiago	Dominican LNB	8	27,8	580	267	733	3,8	1,1	1,6	0,9	11,6
2012–13	Sioux Falls Skyforce	D-League	49	36,0	510	362	852	5,4	2,3	1,4	0,8	18,7
2013	Capitanes de Arecibo	BSN	15	30,9	567	344	822	3,9	2,6	1,1	0,9	14,2
2013–14	Krasnye Krylya Samara Region	rowspan=“2” \|VTB United League	22	30,5	525	421	824	3,7	1,4	1,2	1,1	14,0
2014–15	CSKA Moscow	33	14,1	433	483	735	2,2		05		05		04	51