Tennessee may not possess the NBA draft history of a Duke, Kentucky or North Carolina, but the Volunteers could be cranking out another rags to riches story.
A year after the formerly unheralded Dalton Knecht parlayed his one season in Knoxville into the 17th overall selection of the Los Angeles Lakers, the formerly unheralded Chaz Lanier is poised to be chosen in the 2025 draft that starts Wednesday. The 6-foot-4, 206-pounder from Nashville led Tennessee with 18.0 points per game this past winter after spending his first four college seasons at North Florida.
“I believe I’m the best shooting guard in this draft,” Lanier said last month during a news conference at the NBA combine in Chicago. “I feel that way wholeheartedly.”
The draft will be held at the Barclays Center, which houses the Brooklyn Nets. Wednesday’s opening round (8 p.m. on ABC and ESPN) will have up to five minutes in between picks, while Thursday’s second round (8 p.m. on ESPN) will have up to four minutes between selections.
Most draft projections have Lanier going early Thursday, with Sports Illustrated predicting that Philadelphia will take him 35th overall and ESPN pegging him 38th to San Antonio.