Jonathan GivonyApr 20, 2025, 06:21 PM ET
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- NBA draft analyst and author
Joined ESPN.com in July 2017
Founder and co-owner of DraftExpress.com, a non-public scouting and analytics carrier utilized by NBA, NCAA and world groups
Nate Ament, a top-five recruit and the most efficient to be had highschool boys’ basketball prospect within the 2025 magnificence, dedicated to Tennessee, he informed ESPN on Sunday.
“Trainer [Rick] Barnes sees me as a one-and-done sort participant,” Ament stated. “He has finished it prior to with Kevin Durant. He sees me as that roughly man for his program. I constructed an ideal courting with the training group of workers. I consider them so much, and they have got giant targets for me. I believe they are going to do an ideal process of growing me as a participant and a tender guy. I consider the coaches to lend a hand me get to the following stage.”
Ament, a 6-foot-10 wing from Manassas, Virginia, picked Tennessee over Duke, Kentucky, Arkansas, Louisville and others.
“This was once an overly exhausting resolution,” Ament stated. “It took me a little bit longer than maximum. I sought after to ensure it was once the precise have compatibility. I will have long past to any of the 5 finalists. And even to colleges out of doors the finalists. In the long run, I felt like this was once the most efficient position for me and my circle of relatives, and the training group of workers was once the most efficient have compatibility for me. I used to be taking a look on the switch portal and rosters for subsequent season, asking myself how I might have compatibility with teammates? How a lot can I consider the coaches I’m speaking to? What targets do they have got, and do they align with mine?”
Ament, ESPN’s No. 4 prospect within the magnificence of 2025, was once decided on as a McDonald’s All American after serving to Highland Prime Faculty to a 42-8 document and a VISAA Department 1 Championship, profitable Virginia boys’ basketball Gatorade Participant of the Yr honors.
A relative unknown 18 months in the past, Ament has been on an outstanding trajectory, skyrocketing in recruiting scores after remarkable showings on the highschool and grassroots circuits within the spring and summer time of 2024, together with debuting with USA Basketball and profitable a gold medal on the FIBA Americas U18 Championship.
“Seventeen, 18 months in the past, when you informed me I might be the place I’m now, I shouldn’t have believed you,” Ament stated. “Having the boldness to actually consider I am some of the very best gamers within the nation was once crucial section. It wasn’t about top or power, it was once about placing the educational I have been given to make use of.”
NBA scouts are enamored with the long-term upside and total skill Ament possesses, with guard talents and the facility to protect all over the place the court docket. Ament has added an inch up to now yr, and most likely nonetheless has vital room to develop in each stature and body.
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Along with his top unencumber level and various shotmaking prowess coming off monitors or pulling up off the dribble, Ament can get his jumper off on every occasion he pleases and is fluid attending to spots at the court docket and discovering teammates at the transfer. He has made an important leap up to now yr along with his ballhandling, passing, physicality and defensive depth, and most likely will proceed to take action within the lead-up to the 2026 draft, the place he is projected to be a top-five pick out.
“My upbringing has been the whole lot for me,” Ament stated. “My folks raised me to be sort, loving, humble, being concerned, and tremendous aggressive. Seeing all of the willpower and difficult paintings my mother has installed, with all of the struggling she’s confronted, motivates me much more. She labored so exhausting to position meals at the desk, and I really like her such a lot for it, giving me an ideal lifestyles as a child. My 3 older brothers driven me on a daily basis to need to win in the whole lot I do.”
For Tennessee, Ament’s dedication places the Volunteers proper again within the combine for SEC championship competition with a much-needed injection of skill. Barnes already added some of the very best level guards within the switch portal in Maryland’s Ja’Kobi Gillespie, along side a confirmed skill in giant guy Jaylen Carey from Vanderbilt.
The Vols additionally go back a number of vital gamers in beginning middle Felix Okpara and backup giant males J.P. Estrella and Cade Phillips.
“I think like we will be a countrywide championship crew,” Ament stated. “We are going to cross on that roughly run. The coaches informed me they plan to make use of me as an offensive weapon after which expand my defensive facet. They do not assign me a place. They shaggy dog story about it, however they see me as only a participant. I will do the whole lot on each ends of the ground.”
Jonathan Givony is an NBA draft skilled and the founder and co-owner of DraftExpress.com, a non-public scouting and analytics carrier utilized by NBA, NCAA and world groups.
