Tennessee basketball: Could Vols F Yves Pons really leave early for NBA?

Two developments related to Tennessee basketball on Wednesday opened up talk of Yves Pons potentially leaving the Volunteers for the NBA Draft.

On the surface, it seemed impossible. Tennessee basketball was in line to return everybody who wasn’t a senior from this past year’s team. Josiah-Jordan James was too injured to build his draft stock, John Fulkerson doesn’t have an NBA body and Yves Pons still needs to work on his offense.

However, a couple of stories that came out on Wednesday all of a sudden has us thinking that maybe Pons, who just finished his junior season, could leave. The main one Pons being listed as the No. 32 overall prospect by Rob Dauster of NBC in his overall 2020 Mock Draft.

Nobody saw that coming. The idea of Pons being in the draft was crazy. However, Dauster said he’s the best athlete and the best defender in the entire draft, and when you think about the fact that he is an athletic 6’6″ 215-pound wingman who can post up, shoot the three, is getting better on free throws and just won SEC Defensive Player of the Year, Dauster has a point.

After all, Pons may have taken the biggest leap this past year for Tennessee basketball, although it comes down to him and Fulkerson. Still, the talk of him being a potential prospect in this year’s NBA Draft, as he still has time to file paperwork to do it, was a major shock.

Ironically, though, this was the same day the Vols officially signed Sacred Heart transfer E.J. Anosike. It was confirmed on UTSports, although he had already announced he was heading there as a graduate transfer. Anyway, Anosike is a 6’6″ 245-pound prospect who plays the exact same position as Pons. Both are wing players who double as post players at the college level.

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With the expected development of Olivier Nkamhoua, Uros Plavsic and Drew Pember along with the return of Fulkerson, what would Barnes want with Anosike if Pons was coming back? Why would Anosike want to go to a place with so many post players?

Maybe they both know something we don’t and that something could be that Pons truly is leaving. If he did, Anosike would be a big pickup to help offset. He is not quite as athletic as Pons, so he won’t block 73 shots in a season, but he plays a bit bigger, averaging over 11 rebounds a game this past year. Both can also equally stretch the floor, so there’s no loss there.

Simply put, Anosike offsets Pons’ departure immediately, and if Barnes knew that was a strong possibility, it would explain why he went after the brother of former Tennessee Lady Vols two-time national champion Nicky Anosike. This is clearly pure speculation, but all of this somewhat adds up.

If Pons returns, Tennessee basketball will have more options to play bigger next year, with Pons at the three at some points, and also that they will have much more depth in the post in general. That is still how things are expected to go. But Wednesday’s stories opened up new possibilities. The good news for Tennessee basketball is Anosike helps the Vols offset those scenarios.