The long wait is over. After weeks of speculation that Rick Barnes had Tennessee in the driver’s seat for Juke Harris, the Wake Forest transfer finally committed to the Volunteers on Monday morning. Now, Vols fans can officially exhale, not just because Harris chose Tennessee over Michigan, but because his commitment comes with even better news.
Barnes wasn’t only competing against Dusty May for Harris, he was competing against the entire NBA. In addition to entering the portal following his stellar sophomore season for the Demon Deacons, Harris declared for the 2026 NBA Draft while maintaining his eligibility.
Well, Joe Tipton of On3 reported that Harris is also withdrawing from the NBA Draft. Harris was one of 73 players invited to the NBA Draft Combine in Chicago this month, but it appears he will be forgoing that trip, which could have vaulted him into first-round status and coaxed him to end his college career prematurely.
NEWS: Wake Forest transfer guard Juke Harris has committed to Tennessee, he told @On3.
— Joe Tipton (@JoeTipton) May 4, 2026
The 6-7 sophomore averaged 21.4 points and 6.5 rebounds per game this season. Harris, who has been projected as an early second-round pick, tells @On3 he will also be withdrawing from the NBA… https://t.co/cBkEKLoNKf pic.twitter.com/cmDuVxI53b
Juke Harris withdraws from the NBA Draft ahead of the Combine on May 10-17
It was always unlikely that Harris would leave a major payday as one of the top portal talents in the country for the unlikely possibility of becoming a first-round pick in the draft, but his draft status was looming over his recruitment. Now, both things are clarified, and Harris will be a Vol next season.
In ESPN’s latest NBA Mock Draft, Harris was slated to go No. 33 overall to the Brooklyn Nets. As a second-round pick, he has a better opportunity to maximize his earning potential by remaining in college.
Rarely do players drastically change their draft stock at the Combine, but it’s not impossible. For the same reasons that a 6-foot-7 playmaking wing with guard skills coming off a 20-point per game season is intriguing to Barnes and Tennessee, Harris would have drawn plenty of eyes in Chicago. Especially in this loaded draft class, though, Harris would have had a difficult time making up ground.
With Harris, Barnes’s roster is complete. He has a Final Four-caliber roster, and after three-straight trips to the Elite Eight, that’s the expectation in Knoxville. Now, the pressure shifts away from the recruiting trail, where Barnes dominated, to the 2026-27 season, where he’ll be expected to.
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