Reaction of di-2-pyridyl ketone (dpk) with nickel acetate and azide in the presence of potassium tert-butylate as a catalytic base generates the title compound, which contains the largest [Ni(mu(1,1)-N3)]6 circles in the discrete ferromagnetically-coupled M(II)-azide cluster family, and shows an unprecedented in situ cyanomethylation of ketone.