Could Chaz Lanier land alongside a former Tennessee Volunteer on a team on the rise in this week’s NBA Draft?
One publication believes so.
While the 2025 NBA Draft will begin on Wednesday night, ESPN has the Nashville native projected as a second-round draft pick on Thursday night.
ESPN’s Jonathan Givony and Jeremy Woo had posted Lanier at the No. 38 slot to the San Antonio Spurs in their two latest mocks, but he’s on the rise in Wednesday’s edition of the projections.
Givony and Woo now have Lanier sliding up to No. 37, landing alongside VFL Tobias Harris with the Detroit Pistons.
Harris played the first year of a two-year deal with Detroit in 2024, helping the franchise improve from a franchise-worst 14-68 record in 2023-2024 to a 44-38 record and the No. 6 seed in the East in 2024-2025. Harris will have one season remaining on his contract this upcoming season before the 32-year-old hits free agency.
Harris didn’t tally the same average in points, rebounds, and assists as he did in six years with Philadelphia, but he had a different role in Detroit than he did previously. Harris’s leadership and veteran role helped the likes of Cade Cunningham, Jaden Ivey, and Malik Beasley explode into important roles for the turned-around franchise.
There are no details as to why Lanier moved up slightly from Givony and Woo’s previous two projections, but he’s been looked at as a favorable prospect ever since his ridiculous showing at the NBA Combine this past spring. Teams and scouts knew he was a good perimeter shooter, setting Tennessee’s all-time single-season three-point record (123) last year, but his elite performance at the combine helped cement his projected skillset for teams interested in taking him in the second round.
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Bleacher Report’s Jonathan Wasserman broke out a projection that hasn’t been seen yet this offseason, sliding the former Volunteer all the way up to the final pick of the first round. Wasserman has Lanier projected to go at No. 30 overall to the Los Angeles Clippers via the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder.
“Chaz Lanier finished second at the NBA combine in aggregate shooting, unsurprising based on his 229 made threes over the past two seasons,” Wasserman wrote on Wednesday. “NBA teams that could use more offensive firepower will look past age and lack of versatility for such advanced shotmaking.”
During his lone season at Tennessee, the 6-foot-4 guard averaged 18.0 points, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.1 assists in 38 games for his home-state Volunteers. Lanier is looking to become the ninth former Tennessee player selected in the NBA Draft in the Rick Barnes era in Knoxville.
Stay tuned to Rocky Top Insider for more NBA Draft intel as the big event unfolds on Wednesday night and Thursday night at 8:00 p.m. ET from Brooklyn, NY.
