The 2025 NBA Draft is less than a week away and while there aren’t a ton of former Tennessee players involved, shooting guard Chaz Lanier projects as a second round pick with some mock drafts having Lanier going off the board early in the second round.
As part of its NBA Draft preview, The Athletic’s CJ Moore and Brendan Marks talked to college coaches across the country to get their opinions on draft prospects that they faced during the 2024-25 college season.
What did SEC coaches anonymously say about Lanier, who The Athletic mocks at the No. 47 pick in the 2025 NBA Draft? Let’s start with the negative.
“His inconsistency on a night-to-night basis could hurt him. He doesn’t handle the ball very well,” an anonymous coach said. “Lanier’s not a great ball handler. He’s a specialist. Somebody you have to identify and know where he is at all times.”
The assessment is largely accurate. While Lanier’s sharpshooting translated seamlessly from the A-SUN to the SEC, his ability to get to and score at the basket severely dropped off. After shooting 60% from two-point range in his senior season at North Florida, Lanier shot just 47% from two-point range in his super senior season at Tennessee.
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But Lanier’s shooting was truly elite which is what makes him a possible early second round pick. The Nashville native tied for fourth nationally with 123 made triples last season and did it at a super impressive 39.5% clip. Lanier is the best drill shooter in Rick Barnes’ tenure at Tennessee.
“Without question, NBA range, size, can make a pull-up in the lane,” the anonymous coach said. “The way they were running off screens was very reminiscent of how UConn and Detroit used Rip Hamilton all those years.
“Defensively, I thought he made some strides this past year under (Tennessee coach Rick Barnes). But I think he’d be more of like a 3-and-D guy in the NBA, more of a role player. Not that you’re gonna put the ball in his hands and ask him to make plays. But physically, definitely checks off some boxes. And then obviously has a unique ability to make shots at a really high clip.”
Lanier was a major piece of Tennessee’s second straight Elite Eight team. The 6-foot-4 shooting guard led the Vols with 18 points per game while adding 3.9 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game.
For the second straight year, Barnes and his staff found gold in the portal with a player transferring up to the SEC. Lanier became the program’s first ever Jerry West Award winner and also won SEC Newcomer of the Year. The AP voted Lanier as a First Team All-SEC selection while the league’s coaches voted him a Second Team All-SEC selection.
