Tennessee Vols forward Nate Ament officially declared for the 2026 NBA Draft last week.

Ament, a former five-star recruit, is entering the draft after averaging 16.7 points per game as a true freshman last season.

The Virginia native has until May 27 to pull his name out of the draft.

It’s considered highly unlikely, however, that Ament will withdraw from the draft and return to Tennessee. The only scenario where that would be a realistic option would be if Ament were to tumble to the end of the first round during the pre-draft process.

ESPN’s latest NBA mock draft projects Nate Ament to be a lottery pick

The latest NBA mock draft from ESPN projects Ament to be selected by the Milwaukee Bucks with the No. 10 overall pick.

“While Ament’s stock has slipped from an early top-five projection, he had productive stretches this season within a tricky team context and has room to help himself in workouts,” wrote ESPN’s Jeremy Woo. “Although scouts are split on whether he has star upside or projects better as a long-term supporting player, there is still plenty of intrigue around the opportunity to select a prospect of his caliber later in the lottery. As a tall skill player with real shotmaking upside, Ament fits a player archetype that teams often love to swing on.”

The feeling is that Ament should be able to improve his draft stock with pre-draft workouts. He’s not necessarily a guaranteed lottery pick, but it looks very likely that he will be among the top 14 picks in the draft.

You never say never when it comes to decisions made by college athletes, but it would take something shocking happening at this point for Ament to return to Tennessee for his sophomore season.