Three Vols Declare for NBA Draft

The deadline to declare for the NBA Draft was earlier this week, and three Tennessee Volunteers decided to put their names in.

The NBA announced its early entry of players into the 2023 draft earlier this week. Three former Tennessee Volunteers are on the list. Those three players are Uros Plavsic, Josiah-Jordan James, and Julian Phillips.

Plavsic and James were seniors this past season. However, they both do have one more year of eligibility left. Phillips was only a freshman this past season, as he has plenty of eligible years left to play college basketball.

If all goes well and if at least one of those players is selected, the Volunteers could see back-to-back seasons with NBA draft picks. That is something that has not happened since 2014 and 2015. The San Antonio Spurs picked Kennedy Chandler with the 38th pick in last year's draft before getting traded to the Memphis Grizzlies.

Each of these players has something to offer at the NBA level. James has shown spurts of good shooting around the perimeter. He shot above 30% from three-point range in all four years in Knoxville.

Plavsic's aggression on both ends of the floor makes him a good fit for any professional team's frontcourt. His field goal percentage also improved every season on Rocky Top.

Phillips has the intangibles to be a go-to scorer with his great handle for a 6-foot-8-inch wingman. He showed this in a few games, like a 25-point showing against USC (Calif.) and an 18-point game against both Alcorn State and Mississippi State. He fits the prototype of a tall, scoring wing player in the modern-day NBA.

Although these three players declared for the draft, nothing is set in stone. The transfer portal for college basketball does not close until May 11th, and they can announce another season with the Volunteers until that time as well. 

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