Tennessee basketball about to have best two-year NBA Draft run in history

In 2019, Tennessee basketball had three players taken in the NBA Draft for only the third time in school history, following 1977 and 1950. Grant Williams was taken in the first round, and Jordan Bone and Admiral Schofield went in the second.

It’s widely accepted that 1977 is UT’s best draft class in history with Bernard King going seventh overall, Ernie Grunfeld going 11th overall and Mike Jackson going 133rd overall, in the seventh round However, over the next two years, Rick Barnes could be on track to surpass that.

Most NBA Mock Drafts for 2021, including NBADraft.net, has two Tennessee basketball players going in the first round, Keon Johnson and Jaden Springer. If that happened, it would be the first time since that ’77 draft two Vols went in the first round, and that’s the only other time it has occurred in school history.

Beyond Johnson and Springer, though, Yves Pons is a projected second-rounder. If Pons is drafted after Johnson and Springer go in the first round, it will undoubtedly be the greatest draft class in school history. That’s what Rocky Top is poised to do this year.

However, they are now in line to do break their own milestone next year. A recent mock draft by Jonathon Givony on ESPN+ has two Vols going in the first round of next year’s draft as well: Five-star freshman Kennedy Chandler and rising junior Josiah-Jordan James. Don’t forget that James was once a five-star in 2019.

Now, Givony has no other Vols going, but we should also point out that Brandon Huntley-Hatfield is another five-star freshman, and he could also get drafted early. In fact, if he and Chandler have good years, those two and James could make it the first time in history the Vols have three players taken in the first round of the NBA Draft.

We’re not even including other potential draftees on the roster for next year. Victor Bailey Jr. is an elite scorer who has great size and versatility. He could draw attention with a great season. The same holds true for Justin Powell and Santiago Vescovi, both of whom are sharpshooters.

Simply put, while Tennessee basketball is on track to have its greatest draft class in history this year, it may shatter all records next year. That could do wonders for the Vols as a national program on the recruiting trail, particularly after the 2019 draft class was already one of the best in school history, at least top three.

Taking all this into account, Rick Barnes truly has built something special in his five years in Knoxville. Whether or not it translates to his first national championship remains to be seen, and last year was certainly a disappointing season. What’s clear, though, is that one disappointing season won’t be the only window of opportunity for this program.

Thanks to Barnes’ efforts on the recruiting trail and his true ability to develop talent, Tennessee basketball will be relevant for a long time. The Vols have had some of their best talent ever the past few years, and buckle up. They are about to fill up the NBA.