Former Tennessee star point guard Kennedy Chandler is gearing up for the NBA Draft this upcoming June. After spending one year with Rick Barnes and the Volunteers in Knoxville, the former top-ranked point guard prospect in the nation announced his departure to the NBA in early April.
On Thursday, Swish Cultures Media Company posted a new video to social media featuring Chandler going through on-court workouts. The former Vol is widely expected to be a first-round draft pick, so it’s clear to see that Chandler isn’t taking any off-time for granted.
19 year old Kennedy Chandler ( @KChandler_1 ) is putting in work at NBA predraft 🔥 with trainers @TRAVISWALTON5 and @JRockHolmes . He showcased his athleticism passing and 3 point jumper off the dribble @REP1Basketball pic.twitter.com/5lPmrzzEzc
— Swish Cultures (@swishcultures_) May 5, 2022
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According to the tweet, Chandler is working out with Travis Walton and Javonte’ Holmes. Walton is a former college basketball player at Michigan State who had a three-year post-collegiate playing career with various stops at the NBA D-League and European leagues. Holmes, on the other hand, is a former high school basketball coach in the Memphis area.
Since his declaration for the NBA Draft on April 5, Chandler has been popping up on various mock draft reports. According to Sports Illustrated’s NBA Draft Big Board rankings from Thursday, Chandler is ranked as the No. 42 prospect in the class.
“To Chandler’s credit, he made a lot of progress as the season went on, looking much more confident and assertive by the end of the year,” Sports Illustrated’s Jeremy Woo wrote. “He still profiles better as a backup in the NBA considering his size limitations and reliance on his speed. But Chandler generally makes the most of what he has, utilizing his quickness and vision to facilitate offense and attack the paint, and putting in consistent effort defensively. He wound up with respectable shooting numbers (38% from three) but made just 60% of his free throws, which will continue to feed concerns about his jumper. The main issue here is that it’s arguably a tough proposition to invest first-round draft capital in undersized, offense-first guards. Chandler falls into that bucket for me, though he may very well stick in the league long-term.”
During his one and only season with Tennessee in Knoxville, Chandler battled challenges and obstacles but ultimately came away as one of the leaders and top players on Tennessee’s team. Chandler helped lead the Vols to their first SEC Tournament championship since 1979 and showed heartbreaking emotion while breaking down in tears following Tennessee’s NCAA Tournament loss. From an intangible perspective, there’s no question that Chandler is going to give his all for his team.
From a numbers perspective, Kennedy Chandler finished his debut collegiate season as Tennessee’s leader in scoring and assists. The freshman from Memphis, Tennessee finished the season with 13.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, and 4.7 assists per game in 34 contests.
In Rocky Top Insider’s mock draft report round-up from mid-April, Chandler was projected as a first-round draft pick in five of the six reports that were looked at. Of those five with first-round projections, four have Chandler going as the No. 20 pick or better in the draft this June.
The 2022 NBA Draft will be held on Thursday, June 23, at the Barclay’s Center in Brooklyn, New York.
