Last week, I tweeted this, a white lie\u2026<\/p>\n
Admittedly, it wasn\u2019t \u201ctotal\u201d speculation. There were already whispers that the Brooklyn Nets were interested in Nate Ament in the upcoming NBA Draft, whether at #6 overall or after trading down. But stronger was the inductive reasoning behind it; given what we know about Brooklyn\u2019s recent drafting history and Ament\u2019s profile, the fit is almost too obvious. But we\u2019ll get to that.<\/p>\n
Over the past week, the whispers have become PSAs. Our own Connor Long reported<\/a> that the Nets were interested in the University of Tennessee product, while Kevin O\u2019Connor of Yahoo Sports just mocked Ament to Brooklyn at #6, adding that the Nets are indeed \u201cdrawn\u201d to him\u2026<\/p>\n For what it\u2019s worth, NetsDaily has not heard anything directly from Nets sources about their draft plans, though team insiders are telling people they \u201cfeel good\u201d and are \u201cexcited\u201d about the summer. Not much there.<\/p>\n But sources around the league \u2014 agents and their employees, as well as scouts for rival teams \u2014 all paint the same picture: The Nets are very interested in Ament. In fact, some sources are debating whether it\u2019s an outright \u201clock\u201d that Brooklyn takes the 6\u201910\u201d forward. You hear phrases like \u201cleague-wide expectation,\u201d and when other prospects are mentioned (Karim Lopez, Aday Mara, or one of the guards), the boldest convictions are that they could still be \u201cin play.\u201d<\/p>\n Three weeks out, there is such widespread agreement on Brooklyn\u2019s interest that you wonder if it\u2019s smoke. Or if Brooklyn is telegraphing their interest in a prospect recently projected to go much lower than #6 so as to facilitate a trade-down. O\u2019Connor did note in his latest mock that \u201cplenty of teams [are] interested in trading into this spot.\u201d<\/p>\n The Egor D\u00ebmin selection last season is a valuable reference point, likely part of why these sources feel confident about Brooklyn taking Ament. The team\u2019s interest in D\u00ebmin pre-draft was well known, but few believed the Nets would actually take D\u00ebmin at #8 overall, a clear reach relative to most draft boards. (ESPN had the BYU product at No. 13 in their last mock.) After Brooklyn\u2019s stunning 2025 NBA Draft \u2014 from the D\u00ebmin selection to the other four picks to their jubilant reactions in the war room \u2014 sources aren\u2019t putting anything past them.<\/p>\n While D\u00ebmin and Ament are not identical prospects, there are important similarities, particularly when you consider how they could fit into the next iteration of the Brooklyn Nets. The thinking goes: Size + shooting provides a floor, and once GM Sean Marks goes star-hunting in the trade market, long viewed as an inevitability, those players theoretically slot in comfortably next to high-usage players.<\/p>\n If Brooklyn does take Ament, they clearly don\u2019t believe this crop of guard prospects (Acuff, Wagler, Brown Jr., Flemings) will produce that aforementioned high-usage star. That thinking may be most in line with consensus; teams are lower on that group of players than the general public might be, hence players like Yaxel Lendeborg and Aday Mara shooting up mocks.<\/p>\n Nate Ament could be a prototypical Nets prospect darling for other reasons. Let\u2019s list \u2018em.<\/p>\n Prospect pedigree: Ament was the No. 4 prospect in his high school class before an underwhelming freshman season at Tennessee. Dariq Whitehead, Nolan Traore, Drake Powell, and to a lesser extent, Egor D\u00ebmin were all extremely hyped prospects who lost hype during their pre-draft year.High-character billing: Watch an interview. Read this Marc J. Spears story<\/a>. Nate Ament does seem like a hard worker with a very pleasant attitude, affirmed by those in the know. We know the Nets really, really value character.Weaknesses: The general sell is size + shooting, right? Well, Ament shot 33% from deep, 37% on long twos, and under 79% from the line. Not terrible, but Brooklyn would certainly be banking on a shooting leap, nothing new for them. Ament also struggled with physicality and explosiveness, creating space and\/or finishing at the rim. How many current Nets could that last sentence apply to?<\/p>\n O\u2019Connor gave Ament a bit of a pass on the shooting:<\/p>\n [O]ver the second half of the year for Tennessee, he flipped a switch and shots began to fall. He averaged 23.8 points over a six-game stretch in January and February that reminded everyone why he was a top recruit in the country. Then he dealt with an ankle injury that ruined his momentum entering March and severely struggled during the tournament.<\/p>\n We haven\u2019t heard anything from Nets sources about their interest in Nate Ament. Brian Lewis tweeted Friday that Ament has not yet worked out for Brooklyn. Acuff was in Wednesday, according to Jonathan Wasserman of Bleacher Report, the first word any of the top prospects have been in. And while league sources are quite clear on their opinion, there are still nearly three weeks until the 2026 NBA Draft. Things can change in a hurry.<\/p>\n Alas, even if Ament to Brooklyn isn\u2019t a \u201clock,\u201d the noise and our own inductive reasoning is simply too much to ignore. We\u2019ll have plenty of analysis coming, namely an interview with a prominent NBA Draft analyst on Brooklyn potentially taking Ament. But we can say this: If it does come to fruition, particularly without a trade-down from #6 overall, it will be a very polarizing (at best) decision within draft circles, perhaps even more than the D\u00ebmin selection\u2026<\/p>\n