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Did the Milwaukee Bucks find their Giannis replacement in Nate Ament?

Kevin O'ConnorWed, June 24, 2026 at 1:40 AM UTC

Yahoo Sports' Draft Live crew breaks down the 13th overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft as the Tennessee forward is heading to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Video Transcript

And I think for Amen here, he's a very raw prospect.

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Mm-hmm.

It was an up and down year for him at Tennessee this past season, but he's 6'10", can handle the ball.

He can shoot.

He can make plays off the dribble.

He's a high IQ player.

Those types of players don't come around every single year.

And so I think for the Milwaukee Bucks in this post-Giannis era, they got a good player that we all agreed- Mm-hmm has role player upside with, with a, a chance to be much more than that with Braden Buries and now with Nate Amen.

There's a low floor with him- Yeah but there's also an incredibly high ceiling with his ability off the dribble with his size and skill combination.

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I don't know.

They just got rid of Giannis Antetokounmpo, and he was described as a low floor, extremely high upside, so they're almost doing the same thing here with- Yeah with Amen 'cause you look at him, coming into Tennessee, I think he was highly recruited or he had a, a very big repu- reputation coming in.

And now it still feels raw.

You know, the, the, the selection here, that he's a raw talent, but man, if you, if you got rid of Giannis and you're going for a big 6'10" guy who can, potentially have a high ceiling at the next level, feels like that's the guy.

100%, and I think that one of the knocks on him was that he wasn't tough enough.

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But to go play for Rick Barnes, same thing like I told, like I alluded to earlier when I talked about Kingston Fleming to go play for, Kelvin Sampson at Houston.

To go play for Rick Barnes, he demands a lot, and you are going to be a tough player by playing for Rick Barnes.

And one thing that I was impressed with Nate Amen is his ability to make winning plays.

Like, I think that we didn't give him enough credit when it came to his hustle plays, his competitiveness, wanting to win, wanting to defend, embracing the challenge 'cause early on in the season, my man was not good.

Yeah.

Everybody wrote him off.

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He was not good at all.

He did not produce.

What we expected, the expectations didn't match the production at the beginning of the season, but he bounced back, and he bounced back in a massive way.

And we didn't give him enough credit, but this young man, I think, I really do think, has star potential.

Yeah, I also thought his passing- I think he has star potential.

Yes his passing also came on.

I, I think he has star potential.

You talk about making winning plays.

Yes.

I'm with you.

A- and that's the thing for the Bucks, like you're just swinging for upside.

I mean- Mm-hmm this season, over his first 18 games, he made 27% of his catch and shoot threes.

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For a guy that entered college with the reputation of a shooter, it was a lot of bricks.

But then over his next 12 games, he hit 44% of his threes.

Over his last five, that dipped down to 33%.

And so it was like down, then up, then back down.

Over the course of the season, he only made 48% of his shots at the rim.

For a guy who's 6'10", he does need to get stronger.

He does need- Yeah need to get tougher.

And if you're going to the Milwaukee Bucks, this young organization now, post-Giannis, zero expectations of winning, this team is probably gonna stink next year.

This is an opportunity for him to grow, work through mistakes, get better.

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And so for, I think, certain teams, if they drafted Nate Amen, I'd be saying, "What are they thinking?

This isn't a great selection."

Mm-hmm.