{"id":194349,"date":"2025-07-25T20:01:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-25T20:01:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/194349\/"},"modified":"2025-07-25T20:01:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-25T20:01:12","slug":"tennessee-freshman-listed-as-contender-for-no-1-nba-draft-pick-in-2026","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/194349\/","title":{"rendered":"Tennessee Freshman Listed as Contender For No. 1 NBA Draft Pick in 2026"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n

\"Tennessee<\/p>\n

<\/a>Tennessee freshman Nate Ament. Photo via Ament\u2019s Instagram\/ @ament_nate.<\/p>\n

From Karl-Anthony Towns to Cooper Flagg, the NBA Draft has seen nine college freshmen taken as the top overall draft pick since 2015.<\/p>\n

Tennessee is hoping that its own star freshman player is next on that list.<\/p>\n

Excitement is high around Tennessee true freshman Nate Ament, who was the No. 4 overall prospect in the class of 2025 recruiting cycle. With the number of talented players that Tennessee lost through graduation this offseason, the Volunteers needed a new star to take the spotlight on Rocky Top.<\/p>\n

Enter Nate Ament.<\/p>\n

The hype is real for the 6-foot-10 wing from Highland School in Warrenton, Virginia. According to fellow true freshman Amari Evans, Ament\u2019s skill set resembles that of a six-foot guard despite the fact that he\u2019s only a few inches shorter than seven feet tall. He\u2019s a true offensive wizard, with the ability to score from the perimeter and use finesse to get to the hoop.<\/p>\n

We\u2019ve (the media) only had two chances to see Ament play in practice sessions this summer, but he\u2019s lived up to the billing so far. Ament would routinely knock down three-pointers that you\u2019d look down at his feet and say, \u201cHm. That\u2019s NBA range right there.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHe made multiple jaw-dropping plays,\u201d RTI\u2019s Ryan Schumpert wrote in his June practice observations notebook<\/a>. \u201cThere was the baseline drive where he threw down a two-handed dunk over a guard who was late on help defense. On another play Ament had his back to the basket from 12 feet. He turned left shoulder, pump faked and then did step through and finished the left-handed layup before the help could get there. One area Ament really impressed me was with his facilitating. He got his teammates open shots or dunks multiple times on drives. He just plays so smooth and is not in a hurry. Very impressive trait for someone in his first weeks playing college basketball.\u201d<\/p>\n

More From RTI:\u00a0Tennessee Basketball Announces Home Exhibition Game with Duke<\/a><\/p>\n

It\u2019s not just the local media that\u2019s already taking note of Ament\u2019s skillset, though. It\u2019s also the national media.<\/p>\n

In Myron Medcalf and Jeff Borzello\u2019s 100 Days Out college basketball preview<\/a>, the duo listed Ament as one of the few players who could be competing for the NBA\u2019s top overall draft pick next fall. Borzello also lists BYU\u2019s A.J. Dybantsa, Kansas\u2019 Darryn Peterson, Duke\u2019s Cameron Boozer, and Louisville\u2019s Mikel Brown Jr. in that conversation.<\/p>\n

Ament is also listed as one of the Top 10 impact freshmen heading into the 2025-2026 campaign, saying that \u201cthere\u2019s an argument to be made that Ament has the highest ceiling of the (top overall pick) group.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen Rick Barnes tells you that a young player will be a star, you should believe him,\u201d Medcalf writes<\/a>. \u201cFrom Kevin Durant to Dalton Knecht, Barnes has molded some of the top players in the country over the past 30 years. He recently told ESPN that Ament, a possible top-five pick in next year\u2019s NBA draft, could be a special player this season. The 6-9 forward could be the next star under Barnes.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ament is undoubtedly going to be a fan favorite on Rocky Top, but he\u2019s also going to be one of the top impact performers if Tennessee wants to reach a third straight Elite Eight run\u2026 and more. He\u2019ll have to learn quickly, but we\u2019ve seen elite freshmen take that step in the past, and there are few reasons to believe that Ament can\u2019t be one of the next to do so.<\/p>\n

Here\u2019s a look at some of the talent that Nate Ament is bringing with him to the Food City Center this season:<\/p><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tennessee freshman Nate Ament. Photo via Ament\u2019s Instagram\/ @ament_nate. From Karl-Anthony Towns to Cooper Flagg, the NBA Draft…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":159181,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[7,18339,6,12,1919,12161],"class_list":{"0":"post-194349","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nba-draft","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-nate-ament","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-nba-draft","12":"tag-tennessee-basketball","13":"tag-tennessee-vols"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/114915658094735922","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194349","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=194349"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/194349\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/159181"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=194349"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=194349"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=194349"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}