Before the NBA season even tips off, Nate Ament is already giving the Bucks a reason to feel better about where this is headed.
Ament entered the draft conversation as one of the most intriguing names in the 2026 class, and the pre-draft pedigree was real. ESPN and 247Sports had him as the No. 4 recruit in the country, trailing only AJ Dybantsa, Darryn Peterson and Cameron Boozer - the first three picks in this year’s draft.
Caleb Wilson, Darius Acuff Jr. and Mikel Brown Jr. also ended up going ahead of him, which is why a player with that kind of high school ranking slid to No. 13.
The answer, at least from the way the draft unfolded, was that those other prospects simply separated themselves with huge seasons. Dybantsa, Boozer, Acuff Jr. and Wilson all earned AP All-American honors, while Peterson and Brown Jr. showed they were among the best scorers in the country even while dealing with injuries.
Ament, though, was hardly a disappointment at Tennessee. He was the Volunteers’ second-leading scorer and finished with 16.7 points, 6.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game. He also made Second Team All-SEC, landed on the SEC All-Freshman Team and helped Tennessee reach the Elite Eight.
At 6-foot-10, he flashed the kind of skill set that keeps teams interested. He can handle the ball, create and hit contested shots, and he has the size and versatility to defend multiple positions.
Still, one issue followed him all the way through the draft process: efficiency. He shot 39.9% from the field and 33.3% from 3-point range, and that kind of inconsistency pushed him from early lottery chatter down to No.
- The evaluation on him was clear - a project who would need time, especially with his jumper, before becoming a steady part of the Milwaukee rotation.
That’s why the early offseason buzz matters.
Albert Ghim, Director of Communications for No Ceilings NBA, watched Ament and Egor Demin train with NBA trainer Zach Gonzalez, and his takeaway on Ament was encouraging. Ghim posted that Ament was sharp throughout the workout, then followed it up with a line Milwaukee fans will want to hear:
"Got to spend some time in the gym with NBA trainer Zach Gonzalez as he was working with Milwaukee’s Nate Ament. Nate shot the absolute cover off the ball. Bucks fans should be pumped to see Nate in the fall."
That kind of note lands for a reason. Shooting was the biggest question mark in Ament’s profile, and the early returns suggest he’s making progress.
His summer league line backed that up, too. In six games, he averaged 11.2 points while shooting 50% from the field and 38.9% from beyond the arc. That’s a sharp turnaround from his final competitive outing before the draft, when he went 2-for-12 from the field against Michigan and missed all three of his 3-point tries.
He wasn’t just coasting on low volume, either. Ament averaged 8.0 shot attempts per game and 3.6 3-point attempts, a sign that he wasn’t backing away from the jumper.
For a player drafted for his upside, that’s the kind of offseason development Milwaukee wants to see. Ament already had the talent package. Now he’s showing the work to go with it.
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