Lanier came into the draft with five years of college experience. Before transferring to Tennessee, the 6-foot-4 guard played four seasons at North Florida. He appeared in 104 games with 49 starts for the Ospreys.<\/p>\n
Lanier’s best season came during the 2023-24 campaign, when he notched a career-high 19.7 points on 51.0% shooting from the field and 44.0% from behind the arc, along with 4.8 rebounds. He finished the year scoring the third-highest point total (629) and made 3-point field goals (106) in the program’s single-season history.<\/p>\n
Lanier, a native of Nashville, was named First Team All-SEC in 2025 and First Team All-Atlantic Sun in 2024.<\/p>\n
Lanier played 142 games total in his college career, averaging 11.4 points, 3.3 rebounds, 1.2 assists and 40.2 percent on 3-pointers. He only appeared in 18 games over his first three seasons at North Florida.<\/p>\n
“He works his butt off; the jump from North Florida to Tennessee is not easy, and he figured that out,” Langdon said. “I think he is going to be a great fit here, not only on the court but also in the locker room. He is a high-character young man who really competes.”<\/p>\n
Here\u2019s how Kyle Boone of CBS Sports<\/a> analyzed Detroit\u2019s selection of Lanier:<\/p>\n \u201cDetroit needed to add scoring to its backcourt to surround Cade Cunningham and it accomplished that goal here in Lanier, who was an All-American last season at Tennessee and is a career 40.2% 3-point shooter. Lanier’s tough-minded play style and ability to score in bunches should be a nice fit here.\u201d<\/p>\n Even as a rookie, Lanier has the chance to improve the Pistons’ mediocre 3-point shooting. They finished the 2024-25 season ranked 17th in the league. Malik Beasley led the Pistons in 3-point shooting with 319 made triples (41.6%).<\/p>\n
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