Mashack Headed To Rockets
photo by UT Sports
Jahmai Mashack of the University of Tennessee men's basketball team went No. 59 overall in the 2025 NBA Draft, picked in the second round Thursday night by the Houston Rockets, with his rights set to be dealt to the Memphis Grizzlies in a proposed trade.
The final pick of the draft, on the second day of the event, Mashack was the 13th player selected from an SEC institution.
The 57th player ever drafted out of Tennessee, Mashack is the third selected by Memphis.
He joins Fred Jenkins (No. 129 in 1987) and Michael Brooks (No. 88 in 1985) on the latter list.
Mashack is the 46th future NBA player to compete for Tennessee head coach
Rick Barnes in his 38-year tenure leading a program, including the 35th draftee. Adding in his eight seasons as an assistant, Barnes has now coached 53 NBA players, 41 of whom were drafted.
A total of 12 Tennessee players have now reached the NBA in Barnes' tenure, including 10 draft picks. All of them have come in the last seven years (2019-25).
Mashack is the second Volunteer drafted in 2025, as fifth-year guard
Chaz Lanier went No. 37 overall to the Detroit Pistons. This is the 13th time multiple Tennessee players have been selected in the same NBA Draft, including the seventh—alongside 1977, 1989, 2002, 2014, 2019 and 2021—with two in the top 60. Three of those seven years are during the Barnes era.
Tennessee is one of seven schools with multiple draftees this year. The others are Duke, Florida, Georgetown, Illinois, Kentucky and Rutgers.
This is the fifth consecutive year a Tennessee player has been selected in the NBA Draft. The Volunteers are one of just five teams with at least a five-year streak, alongside Baylor, Connecticut, Duke and Kentucky.
Prior to this stretch, Tennessee's longest NBA Draft streak in the two-round era (since 1989) was two years, as it had two selections in 2014 and one in 2015. Prior to that, the Volunteers had a nine-year streak from 1963-71 and a seven-year count from 1979-85.
In addition, this is the sixth time in the last seven years at least one Tennessee player has been picked. The Volunteers are among only four teams to have a player chosen in at least six of the last seven NBA Drafts, joining Arkansas, Duke and Kentucky.
Tennessee, Duke and Kentucky are the only schools with double-digit draft choices over the last seven years. The Volunteers are the only team to achieve that feat with the same coach the entire time.
A four-year contributor at Tennessee during the best stretch in the history of the program, Mashack helped the team to a 109-36 (.752) record, four NCAA Tournament appears, three Sweet 16 trips, two Elite Eight appearances, one SEC regular season title and one SEC Tournament crown.
Mashack and classmate
Zakai Zeigler are tied for the most wins by a four-year player in program history. Across those four campaigns, 2021-25, Tennessee was ranked in the Associated Press Poll the entire team, placing top-20 in 75 of 80 weeks, with 50 top-10 nods, 24 top-five positionings and five spots at No. 1 overall.
As a senior in 2024-25, Mashack started all 38 games for the Volunteers, co-setting a program single-season record. He averaged 6.0 points, 4.2 rebounds, 1.7 steals and 1.5 assists per game, while shooting 45.4 percent overall and 35.1 percent from 3-point range.
One of four finalists for Naismith Defensive Player of the Year, Mashack finished with the second-best defensive box plus-minus (7.0) in the country. The 6-foot-4, 202-pound guard amassed a 6.28 mark in his career, seventh-best in Division I (min. 50 GP) in the last 15 seasons (2010-25).
A native of Fontana, Calif., Mashack won Field of 68 Defensive Player of the Year during his final collegiate campaign. He also made the SEC All-Defensive Team.
Mashack was a two-time SEC Community Service Team selection and a University of Tennessee Torchbearer. He was one of 14 Division I player—just six came from a Power Five league—to finish the year with at least 60 steals and 20 blocks. He was just the 14th SEC player—15th occurrence—in the last 20 seasons (2005-25) to reach those marks in a single campaign.