On Tuesday night, Rwandan-American Nate Ament’s NBA dreams will become a reality. The Tennessee basketball star is projected to be selected in the top half of the first round of the 2026 NBA Draft, placing him on his team for the next step in his career. As Ament goes through the process, he got a visitor at the site of the draft—Brooklyn, New York. His college head coach, Rick Barnes, made the trip to see the former Vols star and support him at the draft. This comes after just one season at Tennessee before he declared to go pro. Barnes wasn’t alone for his trip either. He was joined by assistant coaches Gregg Polinsky, Amorrow Morgan and Steve McClain, director of basketball operations Mary-Cater Eggert, director of sports performance Garrett Medenwald, director of player personnel/recruiting coordinator Lucas Campbell and former teammate Grant Hurst. Barnes has been extremely supportive of Ament since the recruiting process. After landing the five-star talent, he sang the praises of the 2.08m wing. This wasn’t just compliments as a player, but also as a person. “We are ecstatic to welcome Nate Ament and his fantastic family to Rocky Top,” Barnes said in a statement. “While everyone is aware of just how special a player Nate is, what really drew us to him throughout the recruiting process was the type of person he is. Nate is a high-character, family-oriented young man with a tremendous, caring support system around him who will mesh with our program from day one. He brings a dynamic skill set to the hardwood, embodying the attributes of a modern basketball player.” Ament showed his upside during the course of last season, though he did have to battle through injury heading into the postseason. He finished with 16.7 points per game on 39.9% shooting from the field and 33.3% from range. He also contributed 6.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per contest.
