The 2026 NBA Draft will not be the first time the Milwaukee Bucks have picked 10th overall. A decade ago, the Bucks used the pick on Thon Maker, a high-upside though incredibly raw prospect that many saw as the biggest gamble in the class. It didn't go Milwaukee's way. Now, all these years later, another high-risk, high-reward prospect is staring them in the face in Nate Ament.
Thon Maker was always a gamble for Bucks
Maker's biggest concern heading to the NBA was how unpolished he was. There were questions as to how soon he might actually become a productive piece at the NBA level, leaving some to predict he'd be a late-round pick for a team that could afford to develop him. The Bucks stunned everyone after using the 10th pick to get him.
The big man never found his footing. In his two and a half seasons with the Bucks, he never averaged more than 17 minutes per game. With the team suddenly blossoming into a contender, Maker saw an incredibly reduced role up until he asked the team for a change of scenery, which was granted. Swing and a miss with such a valuable draft pick.
Now, the Milwaukee Bucks are in a position to make a similar kind of mistake.
Ament could be Thon Maker all over again
Look at a mock draft. It probably has Ament landing in Milwaukee. While the forward does have some potential in tow, he's raw. He's not fully developed. Although there were glimpses of him being a star player during his freshman season at Tennessee, there were also plenty of times when Ament looked like he didn't even belong. There was very little consistency.
That's not something that gets fixed upon arriving in the NBA. That's something that needs to be worked on with a team that can afford to be patient—or through another year in college.
If the Milwaukee Bucks convince Giannis Antetokounmpo to stick around, drafting Ament would be the ultimate kiss of death. It would be even more unfathomable than when they took AJ Johnson, a fellow raw prospect who needed more time to develop than what the Bucks could offer. Passing on players who could help now in favor of a project after getting Giannis' signature would be puzzling.
If Giannis leaves, then drafting Ament would at least make some level of sense, given that Milwaukee would likely shift to a youth-driven focus. However, even then, this class has so many other prospects who would make sense and wouldn't be such big risks. Given Milwaukee's poor draft record when it comes to developing draftees, taking Ament could be a disaster.
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