Tennessee star freshman Nate Ament is heading to the NBA Draft following his lone season in Knoxville. While projections can be mixed about his spot as a potential lottery pick, there’s no doubt that he’s expected to go in the first round. Some projections have him as high as a single-digit pick, while one projection had him as low as No. 18. Either way, he’ll find that out when the 2026 NBA Draft rolls around in June.
Prior to Ament’s draft declaration last Thursday, Tennessee had been busy reloading its roster through the transfer portal. Rick Barnes and his staff opted for production over retention and brought in some extremely high-production offensive players through the portal. Tennessee’s next lineup will feature names such as Terrence Hill Jr., Miles Rubin, Jalen Haralson, Tyler Lundblade, and Dai Dai Ames.
While there was a moment of curiosity and speculation that came up last week about a potential return to Tennessee for Ament, On3 college sports insider Chris Low says that Tennessee has been operating through the entire portal stretch with the idea that Ament was going to go pro. Low shared his belief on how things unfolded during Sunday night’s episode of The RTI Low-Down alongside RTI’s Bob Baskerville.
“Listen, Rick Barnes and that staff, they never for one second thought he was coming back,” Low said. “They’d love to have him, and I want to be very clear here. They would love to have Nate come back. But Rick has told me right on through that they think he’s a Top 10 pick, and they’ve told him he should go. You need to go to the NBA. It’s a bad business decision if you don’t.”
Mock drafts aren’t as high on Ament’s stock as they once were, but we all know that they can be a fickle thing. Sometimes they’re right on track with reality, and sometimes they couldn’t be more off. Just ask Tennessee cornerback Jermod McCoy, who wound up going in the fourth round of the NFL Draft this weekend after first-round projections in the pre-draft process. Obviously, McCoy’s unfortunate situation revolved around an injury that spooked teams for 100 picks. But you can also look at Tennessee cornerback Colton Hood, who went in the second round after first-round projections. Or Tennessee defensive lineman Tyre West, who went in the seventh round after not showing up at all on seven-round projections.
The point being, mock drafts are a useful tool for fans to get an idea of things. But it doesn’t always relate to reality.
“Mock drafts are what they are, right? We found that out with Jermod (McCoy),” Low said. “You look the other way around, guys go a lot higher than you think they’re going to go sometimes. So, yeah, if he were to slip by some unforeseen circumstance to 15, 16, 17, yeah, he could still pull back out of the draft. I think he’s got til May 27th. And if that were the case, Tennessee would find him the money to bring him back. I mean, they’d love to have him. But, all that aside, there was never really any conversation among Rick Barnes and Nate – I mean, I know his mother and his dad love Tennessee, and he’s loved his experience at Tennessee – but they also understand that it’s a business.”
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In hindsight, we can see one real example of Low’s statement about the coaching staff’s advice. While speaking with FanRun Radio’s The Drive back in early April, Tennessee assistant coach Gregg Polinsky said that if Ament were his own son, he’d be encouraging him to chase his dreams to the NBA. Polinsky is a former NBA scout and knows this world well.
“Of course, he’s gotta go (to the draft),” Polinsky said on FanRun radio. “Unless his people, his family is great with him coming back. They’re amazing. Amazing family. But if he were my son, I’m telling him he’s got to go. Look, if he’s hearing a number that, meaning not money, but hey, you’re probably going to go 18-25, really? Okay, well, maybe I consider coming back. But I doubt it, guys. I’m going to be surprised if his name is not called in the lottery. And how high it can be in the lottery, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. So happy we had Nate Ament, and he shared his life and his talent with us. It’ll be one of the great things that I’ll remember, I’ll tell you that.”
There’s also an interesting connection to coveted transfer portal forward Juke Harris baked into all of this. Harris is one of the best unsigned players left on the board, and he ranks as the No. 8 overall portal prospect on 247Sports. Tennessee and Michigan appear to be the two big players in the recruitment.
While talking about Harris’ recruitment on The Low-Down, Low speculated on the possibility that Michigan has been trying to convince Harris that Ament was returning to Knoxville, which would eat up minutes and opportunities. We know that’s not the case anymore – But if Tennessee was fully operating with the mindset that Ament would eventually declare for the NBA Draft, they would’ve been able to squash that notion in a hurry.
“In this era, you never say anything is a lock because someone could always drop ‘what if we pay him $5 or $6 million,” Low said. “In fact, I think probably to your point, that Michigan has probably been in Juke Harris’ ear telling him, ‘Hey, (Nate) Ament is coming back so you might want to rethink that decision.’ Well, we know that isn’t happening now. So I think, unless there’s a big snag or curveball at the end, I think Juke Harris will be a Tennessee Vol, and we’ll probably hear something this week.”
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