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Tennessee basketball: Ranking all 15 offseason roster changes by impact in 2021

By Caleb Calhoun

Jan 23, 2021; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes speaks with Tennessee Volunteers guard Yves Pons (35) and forward John Fulkerson (10) during the second half against the Missouri Tigers at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports
Jan 23, 2021; Knoxville, Tennessee, USA; Tennessee Volunteers head coach Rick Barnes speaks with Tennessee Volunteers guard Yves Pons (35) and forward John Fulkerson (10) during the second half against the Missouri Tigers at Thompson-Boling Arena. Mandatory Credit: Randy Sartin-USA TODAY Sports /
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Feb 26, 2020; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Davonte Gaines (0) brings the ball down court during the first half of the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas beat Tennessee 86-69. Mandatory Credit: Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports
Feb 26, 2020; Fayetteville, Arkansas, USA; Tennessee Volunteers guard Davonte Gaines (0) brings the ball down court during the first half of the game against the Arkansas Razorbacks at Bud Walton Arena. Arkansas beat Tennessee 86-69. Mandatory Credit: Brett Rojo-USA TODAY Sports /

14. Davonte Gaines enters transfer portal

In two years with Tennessee basketball, Davonte Gaines appeared in 48 games. He appeared in all 29 of 31 games as a freshman and then 19 of 27 games as a sophomore. At 6’7″ 181 pounds, Gaines was always a defensive specialist who figured to be one of those developmental projects in Rick Barnes’ system, and he showed promise at times.

That is what makes Gaines’ transfer a bit of a loss. However, given his position, he’s not a big loss. The fact of the matter is Barnes has continued to do a good job of adding talent in the backcourt, and that was never a concern for the Vols in 2021-2022.

By the time Gaines entered the portal on April 9, the Vols had already added an elite transfer wing, which we’ll get to later in this slideshow, and they had also already had a key wing player announce his return for next year. We’ll discuss him as well in this post.

Beyond that, the Vols were always expected to return Victor Bailey Jr. and Santiago Vescovi. Also, four-star Jahmai Mashack, who committed before the offseason, can also play on the wing. As a result, Gaines’ departure was not a big deal relative to roster needs. He followed a UT assistant to the George Mason Patriots as his transfer destination. We go to that assistant next.

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