The 2025-2026 college basketball season is wrapping up in less than a month, which means time is winding down for aspiring NBA players with hopes of playing in the league next season to make an impression on scouts and coaches from the next level.
Tennessee star freshman wing Nate Ament is one of these players.
After taking a little bit of time to find his footing in the college basketball landscape, Ament has been one of the top-performing players in the country over the last six weeks or so. He’s averaging 17.4 points, 6.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists on the season as a whole, but his scoring numbers have taken a dramatic rise in the back half of the Vols’ SEC play. Ament has looked more confident and aggressive, leading to much better scoring and processing on the court.
Since Tennessee’s double-overtime win over Texas A&M on Jan. 13, Ament has scored 20+ points in seven games. He’s reached a career-high 29 points in three of those seven games. Ament has missed Tennessee’s last two contests with an injury, but UT head coach Rick Barnes says that he expects him to be back for the Vols’ run in the SEC Tournament on Thursday.
Bleacher Report released a new NBA mock draft on Saturday, which was the final day of the regular season across the men’s college basketball landscape. B/R used a draft order simulation from Tankathon, which delivered some major surprises, including the Trail Blazers and the Atlanta Hawks taking the first two picks.
In this mock draft, Tennessee’s Nate Ament is slotted at No. 10 overall to the Memphis Grizzlies. That’s certainly something that Tennessee fans on the west side of the state would love to see after the Grizz picked up VFL Jahmai Mashack in the draft last season.
“In case we need another reminder that injuries are the absolute worst, a high ankle sprain just disrupted what was becoming a really encouraging run for Ament,” B/R’s Zach Buckley wrote. “The 6’10” swingman was slaying conference foes left and right, averaging 22 points and 6.8 rebounds while shooting 38 percent from three and 83.7 percent at the line over his last 12 outings before getting hurt against Alabama.
“The Grizzlies would need the right kind of forward-projecting to really love this pick, as there are questions about Ament’s strength, explosion, and shooting consistency. If anyone were ready and willing to throw a dart, though, you’d figure it might be the team that traded away both Desmond Bane and Jaren Jackson Jr. and seemingly awaits a taker for Ja Morant amid an organizational overhaul.”
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If the Grizzlies wind up taking Ament with their first-round pick, it would be the second straight season that Memphis took a player from Rick Barnes’ Tennessee program. The Grizzlies selected VFL Jahmai Mashack with the 59th overall pick of the 2025 NBA Draft last summer.
Mashack was given an elevated opportunity with Memphis in recent weeks after the team’s injuries and moves at the trade deadline. He averaged just 4.26 minutes per game across November, December, and January, but has been elevated to averaging 23.5 minutes per game across February and March. His versatility and tenacious defense have made Memphis comfortable playing him at different positions, and he’s elevated his scoring ability as well. In fact, Mashack’s 7.05 PPG over his last 12 games is a higher scoring number than he averaged in any season at Tennessee. He’s found ways to be creative with his scoring, and his hard work is paying off.
While Rick Barnes said that he expects Ament to be back for the SEC Tournament this week in Nashville, there’s been no concrete evidence of his availability just yet. The media will be in Knoxville to speak with Barnes and observe practice on Tuesday, and we should have a better idea of where Ament’s standing is after that. He suffered an injury in Tennessee’s game against Alabama on Feb. 28 and missed the Vols’ subsequent games against South Carolina and Vanderbilt the following week.
Either way, though, Ament is a key part of where Tennessee’s tournament ceiling is with things ramping up in March. All eyes will be on his injury status heading into the SEC Tournament this week. Tennessee will play its first game on Thursday afternoon in Bridgestone Arena.
Check out Zach Buckley’s full NBA mock draft for Bleacher Report here.
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