The 2006-born Ament, a 2.03 m (6’9”) forward from Woodbridge, Virginia, was selected 13th by the Miami Heat, but was immediately shipped to the Milwaukee Bucks as part of the blockbuster 2026 draft-day trade for Giannis Antetokounmpo.
Godelive, his mother, is a nurse from Rwanda, where she met Albert, his French teacher father, who had two master’s degrees and also served in the Peace Corps in Chad and Madagascar, before becoming a principal in Rwanda. In the meantime, Albert had been working for Catholic Relief Services in then-Zaire, where he met Ament’s mother.
Ament was a 2024 second-team All-SEC selection who started all 35 games he played in and scored 584 points, the third-best total among Volunteers freshmen in program history, on his way to SEC Tournament Most Valuable Player honors. He shot an outstanding 79 percent from the free-throw line and became just the second Tennessee player in the past 20 years to be drafted into the NBA, after Josh Richardson in 2015.
Ament joins fellow rookie guard Tyler Herro and wing Kel’el Ware in the new-look Bucks roster, which has been loaded in the wake of the Giannis trade. The rookie is being compared to NBA stars such as Brandon Ingram and Andrew Wiggins due to his shot-creation ability, size, and defensive versatility.
Ament has been a fixture in the media, as a significant portion of his draft stock has come from his Rwandan heritage, which has resonated with many people back home who followed his draft-day proceedings.
