Tennessee basketball: Justin Powell in portal means Vols will stock up at guard

A year after transferring from the Auburn Tigers to Tennessee basketball, Justin Powell is on the move again. He entered the transfer portal earlier this week, joining Victor Bailey Jr. and Brandon Huntley-Hatfield as UT players in the portal.

Powell and Bailey in the portal, Kennedy Chandler entering the NBA Draft and Josiah-Jordan James and Santiago Vescovi testing the NBA waters suggests the Vols are getting wrecked at guard. However, a deeper look into it clearly means something else.

Rick Barnes is stocking up in the backcourt for Tennessee basketball, and while the final product isn’t confirmed to the public, it’s known within team circles. Powell’s entry into the portal was revealed Wednesday evening by ESPN college basketball insider Jeff Borzello.

Given the fact that Powell will either have to sit out a year or transfer down a division, the only way he would do this is if he knew he’d still be buried in the depth chart. As a result, it’s safe to assume that something we don’t know will happen in UT’s favor going forward.

Indiana State Sycamores guard Tyreke Key transferring to Rocky Top, the return of Zakai Zeigler and the commitment of four-star B.J. Edwards are all part of it. Still, that leaves at least one and probably up to three rotational spots for Powell.

That means either another transfer is about to join Tennessee basketball, Vescovi is coming back or both. It could mean both are true along with James coming back. Those are the only explanations for Powell entering the portal now.

Sure, last year, Powell averaged just over three and a half points a game in just over 14 minutes. However, the 6’6″ 205-pound guard shot 38.1 percent from three and was coming off a season-ending injury at Auburn. As a result, all signs pointed to him seeing a larger role this year.

Based on the public guarantees for the roster right now, there would have been plenty of room for him to see his action increase dramatically next year. Choosing not to take advantage of that makes it pretty clear that he won’t have the opportunity to take advantage of that.

Maybe Iowa State Cyclones transfer Tyrese Hunter actually will end up with the Vols. If he does while Vescovi returns, then UT will have Zeigler, Vescovi, Hunter, Key and Edwards to make up their rotation in the backcourt.

Of course, if James comes back too, he could move back to the wing with Olivier Nkamhoua getting healthy. On the other hand, he could stick at the four with Huntley-Hatfield gone. It likely depends on the development of Jahmai Mashack.

Either way, Powell would only be pushed out of the rotation if Tennessee basketball were about to have more guarantees in the backcourt. Taking that into account, while his transfer is a loss given his shooting prowess, it speaks to greater things on the horizon.