Tennessee basketball wing Nate Ament officially declared for the NBA Draft on Thursday night, just a day before the deadline for college players to declare.
Ament could still return to college if he decides to remove his name before the May 23 deadline. However, his post makes it clear that he fully intends to stay in the draft ending a week of speculation about his basketball future.
Here’s what Ament said in his post about his decision to continue his basketball career in the NBA.
“I’m declaring for the NBA Draft,” Ament posted. “I want to dedicate this post to my Vol family. Your guys love and support is a huge reason I have this opportunity. It’s because of you guys that I was able to grow. Y’all stuck with me through the bad games and the good. I promise to always represent the Vols with the upmost pride. This University means more to me than just basketball — to me it’s a place I call home. I might’ve only been here a year but I’ll remember this year for the rest of my life.
“This wouldn’t be possible without my family, teamates, coaching staff, and our managers. These guys challenged me to be a better player and man. They’ve put me in a position to live out a dream. This is just the beginning.
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Ament’s statement reflected his humble and unassuming personality with the Tennessee star thanking nearly everyone in the Tennessee program and its fans while properly illustrating how much his lone year in Knoxville meant to him.
“I just think that honestly, when he goes through this process that any and every team he sits down in front of, they’re going to see the same things that we see,” Tennessee head coach Rick Barnes said Thursday. “There’s so much more to him than what you see on the court basketball-wise. Right now there’s no ceiling for him. He’s really hasn’t even scratched the surface. But it’s everything else he brings. I mean, he’s the kind of guy that any franchise, certainly the University of Tennessee, we want him to be the face of the program, and every franchise will see that too.”
Ament is coming off a standout freshman season at Tennessee where he averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game. The 6-foot-10 forward shot 39.9% from the field, 33.3% from three-point range and 79% from the foul line.
The freshman got better over the course of the season and played better in SEC play than he did in non conference play. In 16 SEC games, Ament averaged 19 points and six rebounds per game. He scored 20-plus points in 11 games while scoring a career-high 29 points in wins over Alabama and Ole Miss as well as in a loss against Oklahoma.
The latest mock drafts project Ament to go anywhere between No. 8 and No. 18 in this summer’s NBA Draft. If Ament goes in the first 16 picks, he will be the highest drafted Tennessee player of the Rick Barnes era.
