Former Tennessee guard Chaz Lanier. Photo By Andrew Ferguson/Tennessee Athletics
After a record-breaking year with Tennessee basketball, Chaz Lanier was drafted by the Detroit Pistons in the 2025 NBA Draft. With the regular season now underway, Lanier has appeared in four games for an average of 2.8 points in 8.0 minutes on the floor per game.
On Monday night, the Pistons hosted the Cleveland Cavaliers in a 116-95 loss. Lanier played 12 minutes, made two threes and came up with a rebound.
The following morning, Lanier’s mom, Stacey Lanier, posted a photo of a fan at the game in a Lanier Tennessee jersey. She captioned it ‘So cool to see the Vols support at last night’s Pistons game.’ Chaz Lanier saw the photo and responded to it with an orange heart, orange and house emoji on his X account.
— CHAZ LANIER (@Swaggychaz) October 29, 2025
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Lanier averaged 18 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists with 43.1% shooting in 38 games with the Vols and helped lead Tennessee to the Elite Eight in Indianapolis. He recorded 123 made three-pointers in those 38 games, which set Tennessee’s all-time single-season three-point record. He broke Chris Lofton’s 17-year record of 118 made three-pointers from the 2007-2008 season.
“My previous year at Tennessee really helped me get ready for the next level in a numerous amount of ways, especially on defense,” Lanier said. “And on the offensive side, being able to play faster and just do everything a step faster.”
Lanier also grew up with current Lady Vols guard Kaiya Wynn in Nashville. Wynn said that Lanier has gifted her family some of his NBA gear since getting drafted.
“It was crazy. Chaz used to be shorter than me. I’m always going to stand on that hill,” Wynn said. “He’s a really hard worker and I’m glad Vol Nation embraced him, I knew that they would going in. It was just really awesome to see him grow and Coach Barnes push him to be a better basketball player. We always knew he was gonna have the talent to get drafted, but now that he’s there, it’s surreal.
“He sent us a bunch of gear. He sent my family and I a bunch of gear the other day. He’s really down to earth. He doesn’t forget his roots. I hope I can catch a game. I don’t think I’ve ever been to an NBA game. It’ll be cool to go out there and watch him play on the next level.”