{"id":769076,"date":"2026-06-24T05:48:20","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T05:48:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/769076\/"},"modified":"2026-06-24T05:48:20","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T05:48:20","slug":"bucks-draft-nate-ament-with-no-13-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/769076\/","title":{"rendered":"Bucks Draft Nate Ament With No. 13 Pick"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Bucks have used the 13th overall pick in the 2026 NBA draft to nab former Tennessee forward Nate Ament<\/a>. The Heat technically made the selection, but will send Ament to Milwaukee as part of the Giannis Antetokounmpo<\/a> blockbuster<\/a>, which can become official in July after the moratorium period ends.<\/p>\n

\"\"Ament was a somewhat polarizing prospect leading up to the draft. Projected as a top-five pick entering the 2025\/26 season, he struggled with his shot during his lone college season at Tennessee, making just 39.9% of his field goal attempts, including 33.3% of his three-pointers.<\/p>\n

However, as Jeremy Woo of ESPN<\/a> outlines, the 6\u201910\u201d forward also possesses \u201ca tantalizing mix of size, fluidity, perimeter skill,\u201d which helped sell many scouts and executives on his star potential.<\/p>\n

Despite struggling to score efficiently as a freshman, Ament still put up impressive numbers for the Volunteers, averaging 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists, and 1.0 steal in 29.7 minutes per game across 35 contests (all starts). He battled an ankle\/knee injury near the end of the season that limited his effectiveness in the NCAA tournament \u2014 he went scoreless in the Volunteers\u2019 round-of-64 game and scored just seven points on 2-of-12 shooting when the team was blown out in the Elite Eight by Michigan, the eventual champs.<\/p>\n

The most worrisome part of Ament\u2019s statistical profile is that he struggled to finish through contact and score at the rim in college, shooting just 43.0% on two-pointers despite being 6\u201910\u201d. He\u2019s not a great athlete compared to top NBA players. On the other hand, he was one of the best players in the country at drawing fouls, averaging 7.1 free throw attempts per game.<\/p>\n

While Ament is viewed as more of a long-term prospect who will have to continue to improve, it\u2019s rare to find wing players with his skill set. If he maximizes his potential, he could end up being a steal at No. 13.<\/p>\n

Ament has a clear pathway to minutes and development on the Bucks, who have a gaping hole at forward in the wake of the Antetokounmpo trade. They\u2019re receiving Sixth Man of the Year runner-up Jaime Jaquez Jr.<\/a> in that deal and still have veteran Kyle Kuzma<\/a>, though he could be moved if Milwaukee continues to trend younger. The Bucks also have a somewhat similar player to Ament in Ousmane Dieng<\/a>, a potential restricted free agent.<\/p>\n

Ament, 19, was frequently linked to the Bucks leading up to the draft. He\u2019ll join No. 10 overall pick Brayden Burries<\/a>, Kel\u2019el Ware<\/a>, Jaquez, Kasparas Jakucionis<\/a> and Ryan Rollins<\/a> as part of the young nucleus in Milwaukee. Tyler Herro<\/a> is being sent from Miami to Milwaukee in the Antetokounmpo blockbuster too, but it\u2019s unclear if the Bucks will keep him.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Bucks have used the 13th overall pick in the 2026 NBA draft to nab former Tennessee forward…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769077,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3775],"tags":[7,103,102,121,3871,18339,6],"class_list":["post-769076","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-milwaukee-bucks","tag-basketball","tag-bucks","tag-milwaukee","tag-milwaukee-bucks","tag-milwaukeebucks","tag-nate-ament","tag-nba"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/116803515613342937","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769076","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=769076"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769076\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769077"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769076"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769076"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769076"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}