Milwaukee enters the 2026 draft holding only the No. 10 overall pick — its own selection — and Bleacher Report projects the Bucks to take a calculated gamble on Tennessee’s Nate Ament, a 6-foot-10 freshman forward who was supposed to be a top-five prospect before an injury-interrupted season dramatically altered his standing.

The Bucks hold just the one pick here. ESPN’s Jeremy Woo reported recently that Milwaukee “has been operating as if it will have multiple selections in this year’s draft,” which strongly implies that a Giannis Antetokounmpo trade is forthcoming and that additional picks would come back in a return package. If that deal materializes before draft night, the No. 10 pick becomes even more central to Milwaukee’s future — a stake in the ground for whoever is building the next era of Bucks basketball.

Ament entered the 2025-26 season ranked among the top recruits in the country, a long, versatile forward from Tennessee with the creation ability, passing instincts, and defensive toolkit that made him a presumed top-five pick. Then the season unfolded unevenly. He struggled with efficiency early, dealt with an ankle injury that derailed his momentum entering March, and was clearly not at his best during the NCAA Tournament. The result is a prospect now available at No. 10 who, a year ago, would have gone top three.

What Ament offers at his best is genuinely exciting. He is 6-foot-10 with a 7-foot wingspan and the creation ability off the dribble typically associated with smaller guards. He can function as a primary ball-handler in half-court sets, initiating pick-and-roll offense with legitimate downhill threat. His passing is advanced for someone with his positional size, and his defensive versatility — switching from point guards to centers — gives him a two-way upside that most seven-footers can’t approach.

The player immediately after Ament at No. 10 is Hannes Steinbach, the Washington center who goes to OKC at No. 12 in this projection (with No. 11 going to the Clippers). Steinbach is a more NBA-ready center prospect — a reliable rebounder, finisher, and rim-runner with legitimate touch on the mid-range — but his ceiling is lower than Ament’s. Milwaukee explicitly trades the safer floor for the higher ceiling.

Outlet	Projected Player
Bleacher Report	Nate Ament
CBS Sports	Nate Ament
Tankathon	Mikel Brown Jr.
Yahoo Sports	Nate Ament

CBS Sports’ Adam Finkelstein, Gary Parrish, and Isaac Trotter all project Ament to Milwaukee at No. 10. Yahoo Sports’ Kevin O’Connor also has Ament landing with the Bucks. Tankathon’s projection diverges, placing Mikel Brown Jr. in Milwaukee — but the outlet consensus is firmly on Ament, and the logic is clear: Bucks GM Jon Horst has historically been willing to accept development risk for ceiling. He took Grayson Allen at 21 and built him into a reliable shooter; he took Brook Lopez on a risky back-to-the-basket center contract that worked out enormously. Ament fits that pattern.

Milwaukee’s roster flexibility post-Giannis (assuming that deal happens) will allow the organization to build deliberately around a player with Ament’s timeline. He doesn’t need to be great in year one. He needs the coaching, the strength training, and the extended developmental runway that a patient front office can provide. The Bucks have demonstrated they can do this — and at No. 10, Ament’s upside makes the bet entirely rational.

A healthy Ament — running pick-and-roll with a capable lead guard, spacing the floor with reliable three-point shooting, and anchoring a switchable defense — gives Milwaukee a cornerstone to build around in the post-Giannis era. That’s the vision this pick represents, and it’s exactly why Milwaukee’s willingness to roll the dice here is the right call for a franchise that needs to re-establish itself from the ground up.