CULTURETECHLENSNick Anderson
VERIFIED evidence grade — build store (JSON graph)
Combined Graph record U-07702 · provenance: build store (JSON graph), record CTL-E-6830.
Nick Anderson is a Chicago-born guard-forward who became the first cornerstone of an NBA expansion franchise. Born in Chicago on January 20, 1968, he starred at Simeon Career Academy, where he was named Illinois Mr. Basketball in 1986, and at the University of Illinois, helping the 'Flyin' Illini' reach the 1989 NCAA Final Four. The Orlando Magic selected him 11th overall in the 1989 NBA draft — the first draft pick in franchise history — and he spent ten seasons in Orlando, leaving as the club's career scoring leader and its last remaining original expansion player, before closing his 13-year NBA career in 2002 with Sacramento and Memphis. According to Basketball-Reference (accessed 2026-11-03), he was born in Chicago, attended Simeon and Illinois, and was drafted by Orlando in the first round in 1989.
Answer summary · this record in brief, from its own record text
Nick Anderson is a Chicago-born guard-forward who became the first cornerstone of an NBA expansion franchise. Born in Chicago on January 20, 1968, he starred at Simeon Career Academy, where he was named Illinois Mr. Basketball in 1986, and at the University of Illinois, helping the 'Flyin' Illini' reach the 1989 NCAA Final Four.
The record
- Also known as: Nelison "Nick" Anderson, Nelison Anderson
Notes
Sports Encyclopedia roster CTL-SPE-0342. Orlando Magic is not a homed endpoint in this graph pass, so no played_for relationship is emitted for Anderson despite the verified Magic tenure. Curator's Judgment (DRAFT): Anderson's Simeon-to-Illinois-to-Orlando line, and his No. 25 worn in memory of Ben Wilson, tie Chicago school basketball memory directly to an NBA franchise's founding identity. Photo correction (head, at assembly): staged Commons file did not resolve; verified subject file substituted — see media layer.
Relationships
- Chicago — from
Nick Anderson was born January 20, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois (Basketball-Reference; NBRPA alumni profile).
Sources
- Basketball-Reference.com, "Nick Anderson Stats, Height, Weight, Position, Draft Status and more." https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/a/anderni01.html?sr& — accessed 2026-11-03. (primary source · build store)
- National Basketball Retired Players Association, "Nick Anderson" alumni profile, legendsofbasketball.com. https://www.legendsofbasketball.com/alumni/nick-anderson/ — accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)
- Flight 25 Foundation, "About Our Founder" (Nick Anderson). https://flight25foundation.com/founder/ — accessed 2026-11-03. (build store)
Photograph · rights-cleared record, CultureTechLens Photo Rights Log
Nick Anderson (second from left) with Steve Shaw, James Bosworth, John Raser and Tree Rollins, 2012
Nick Anderson (second from left) with Steve Shaw, James Bosworth, John Raser and Tree Rollins, 2012 — Back9Network, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons. Source: CultureTechLens · view at source
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Record CTL-E-6830 · Combined Graph record U-07702 · CultureTechLens Knowledge Graph · 3 sources · 1 mapped relationship.
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Researched and maintained by the CultureTechLens research program · CultureTechLens Combined Graph, Release 2026-11-04. Corrections are public: the corrections log.
Cite this record
Chicago: CultureTechLens. “Nick Anderson (CTL-E-6830).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph. Chicago, IL: CultureTechLens, 2026. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-6830/
APA: CultureTechLens. (2026). Nick Anderson (CTL-E-6830) [Entity record]. CultureTechLens Combined Graph. https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-6830/
MLA: CultureTechLens. “Nick Anderson (CTL-E-6830).” CultureTechLens Combined Graph, 2026, https://culturetechlens.com/graph/entities/ctl-e-6830/
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