Nate Ament enters NBA Draft after one season with Tennessee basketball

Nate Ament is entering the NBA Draft after his freshman season with Tennessee basketball, he announced Thursday.

“I want to dedicate this post to my Vol family,” Ament wrote on Instagram. “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 utmost 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.”

The 6-foot-10 guard averaged 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists for the Vols and coach Rick Barnes. He is widely projected to be a first-round pick in the 2026 NBA Draft in late June.

Ament is fully intending on remaining in the NBA Draft, his agent Derek Malloy of LIFT Sports Management told Volquest. If he chose to return to UT, Malloy said Ament has NCAA eligibility until May 31 due to Malloy being an NCAA-certified agent.

“This wouldn’t be possible without my family, teammates, coaching staff and our managers,” Ament wrote. “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.”

Ament battled through right leg injuries late in the season, including a high ankle sprain that limited him in the final month.

He suffered the injury scrambling for a loose ball and it affected him for the rest of the season. He missed the following two games and returned for the SEC Tournament. He had one of his best games with the Vols, scoring 27 points after a second-half scoring flurry in a tournament-opening win against Auburn.

Ament had 11 games with at least 20-points, including three with a season-high 29. All three were in the 10 games before his injury against Alabama on Feb. 28.

“He’s such a humble individual,” Barnes said earlier Thursday. “He cares about people. But basketball-wise, he’s gonna be extremely successful there. But all the other things that he does that maybe people know about, maybe they don’t, he won’t lose that either.”

Tennessee has had a player picked in five straight NBA Drafts, the longest streak since the draft went to two rounds in 1989. UT has had seven players picked in that window. It has had 10 players picked under Barnes.

Ament is the fifth one-and-done under Barnes. Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer were the first two in the 2021 NBA Draft. Johnson was picked No. 21 by the Los Angeles Clippers and Springer was chosen No. 28 by the Philadelphia 76ers.

Kennedy Chandler was picked No. 38 by the Memphis Grizzlies in 2022 and Julian Phillips was selected No. 35 by the Chicago Bulls in 2023.

Ament is the highest-ranked recruit to sign with Tennessee in the recruiting rankings era. The five-star prospect was the No. 4 prospect in the Rivals Industry Rating. He picked Tennessee over Arkansas, Duke, Kentucky and Louisville.

He is the seventh five-star prospect to commit to Tennessee under Barnes and the first since the 2022 class.

Ament played at Highland School in Warrenton, Virginia.