Tennessee Basketball freshman Nate Ament has been one of the more polarizing prospects for the NBA Draft next week in Brooklyn. The former five-star prospect entered college basketball with sky-high expectations. And while it took some time to find his footing, Ament blossomed into an SEC star by the end of the year.
Ament’s draft projections have mainly been at the tail-end of the lottery, but there have been some experts who have tagged him on the outside of that range looking in. He’ll be a first-round pick when the draft rolls along this upcoming Tuesday, but the big question is just how high he’ll go.
Ament did a four-minute interview with SportsCenter on Thursday, and one of his answers gave some insight into which teams could potentially be in the mix for the Tennessee freshman. He revealed that he’s done four workouts so far, with the Chicago Bulls, Brooklyn Nets, the Oklahoma City Thunder, and the Clippers.
Ament did go through the NBA Combine, so he’s got plenty of visibility in front of the other 26 teams as well. But it does make for an interesting note that these four teams opted (and was allowed) to get a closer look at the 6-foot-10 prospect.
The Bulls have picks 4 and 15, the Nets have pick 6, the Thunder have picks 12 and 17, and the Clippers have pick 5.
In ESPN’s latest mock draft from Monday, Jeremy Woo tagged Ament to go 10th overall to the Milwaukee Bucks. Woo’s projection did note that “teams say [Ament] has been selective about scheduling workouts, declining to visit multiple teams in the top 10,” which adds another interesting wrinkle into the process.
“Super excited. Definitely a little reflective of just all I’ve gone through in my basketball process.”
Nate Ament joins SportsCenter and speaks on the emotions he’s feeling ahead of the NBA draft 🏀 pic.twitter.com/KU5JEihNJC
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During his freshman season at Tennessee, Ament averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, and 2.3 assists in 35 games. He proved to be a solid player early in the season, but he lacked some superstar moments. That was until SEC play, at least.
Starting with a blowout loss to Florida in early January, Ament’s offensive game began to solidify. That game, which took place on Jan. 10, was the start of a double-digit scoring streak that lasted through the SEC Tournament – aside from a late February game against Alabama, in which he only scored two points in 11 minutes after going down with a knee/ankle injury. As the SEC season progressed, Ament began to hunt his shot on the court. He was more assertive, more commanding, and more aggressive with his takes, whether it be from the perimeter or working to get to the foul line.
During a streak from Jan. 24 to Feb. 18, Ament went for 20+ points in six out of eight games, including 29 at Alabama, 28 against Ole Miss, 29 at Kentucky, and 29 against Oklahoma. And while he only scored 13 points on 3-of-13 shooting in the next game against Vanderbilt on Feb. 21, Ament had one of Tennessee’s most clutch late-game shots of the season to put the Vols over the top of their rivals in Nashville.
The 2026 NBA Draft will take place June 23-24 in Brooklyn, NY.
