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What will Tennessee basketball’s Grant Williams do? Should he stay or go?

By Caleb Calhoun

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 23: Grant Williams #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts after being fouled during the second half of the game against Kansas Jayhawks at the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament at Barclays Center on November 23, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images)
NEW YORK, NEW YORK - NOVEMBER 23: Grant Williams #2 of the Tennessee Volunteers reacts after being fouled during the second half of the game against Kansas Jayhawks at the NIT Season Tip-Off Tournament at Barclays Center on November 23, 2018 in the Brooklyn borough of New York City. (Photo by Sarah Stier/Getty Images) /
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Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images
Photo by Gregory Shamus/Getty Images /

Final verdict

This may not be a very popular opinion on Rocky Top, but Grant Williams needs to stay in the NBA Draft. There’s very little he can gain with an extra season playing for Rick Barnes and the Tennessee basketball program.

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Sure, Williams has things to improve on. But none of these things are issues that scouts are going to miss. If he has the potential to fix them with an extra year in college, scouts have realized he has the potential to fix them while playing in the pros.

That’s probably why Williams is projected as a first-round pick across the board. And he’s able to make money while developing in the NBA. So from an individual perspective, the advantages to staying don’t outweigh the advantage of an NBA contract.

What about the X-factors? Well, even if Williams enjoyed his time on Rocky Top, he enjoyed it with veterans like Admiral Schofield, Kyle Alexander and Jordan Bone. Schofield and Alexander have already graduated, and Bone is likely gone. So Williams, even if he did return, he would be missing aspects of what he loved about playing under Barnes.

Also, the incoming new talent limits his chance to fix that unfinished business, and replacing so much productivity could actually limit the developmental aspects of his game that would be the only reason for him to return. As a result, returning is a bad idea.

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So what will Williams do? Well, despite his heart remaining with Tennessee basketball, he’ll leave for the NBA. He has to be weighing all these decisions as well, and a ton of advisers are likely screaming them in his ear to add to it. That’ll be too much to overcome. So expect him to declare for the pros for good on Saturday.

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