Meet The New Young Bucks

From Left: Taylor Jenkins, Nate Ament, Brayden Burries and Jon Horst. Photo taken June 25, 2026 by Sophie Bolich.

Milwaukee Bucks personnel packed the gymnasium at Pieper-Hillside Boys & Girls Club Thursday for a press conference introducing the team’s newest members: Brayden Burries and Nate Ament.

Smiles and high-fives greeted the rookies as they entered through a side door, passing through a cheer tunnel before taking seats beside head coach Taylor Jenkins and general manager Jon Horst for a question-and-answer session.

In their new roles, Burries and Ament said they hope to bring a competitive mindset and a commitment to continued growth as they adjust to life in the league.

“I’m all hands on deck and I’m ready to get to work,” said Ament, a former Tennessee Volunteers forward from Manassas, Virginia, adding that he’s eager to build relationships with veteran players. “These guys know best, so I’m excited to learn from them.”

Burries, a former University of Arizona guard, highlighted his versatility. “The strength I bring is being able to impact winning outside of just scoring, whether that’s defending, rebounding, play-making, or just trying to be a good person on the bench for the other guys,” he said.

The San Bernardino, California native, 20, was selected with the 10th pick in the draft. He helped lead the Wildcats to the Final Four in his lone college season before declaring for the draft.

“What I love about Brayden is his ability to impact on both sides of the floor,” Jenkins said. “This guy wants to be a point of attack defender, he wants to be a team defender — it’s infectious.”

Both players, selected in the first round of this week’s NBA Draft, enter the franchise during a rebuilding phase, following Jenkins’ hiring in April and the blockbuster trade that sent Giannis Antetokounmpo and Bobby Portis to the Miami Heat.

Jenkins, who emphasized a culture of teamwork during his introductory news conference in May, said he heard overwhelmingly positive feedback from the players’ former coaches, teammates and opponents.

“These guys are stellar individual players,” he said. “They’ve got room to grow, and I’m going to remind them of that.”

That process has already begun. Both players said Jenkins started their film sessions by reviewing their biggest mistakes from college.

“When I sat down for my interview, he had a lowlight tape of me, of my five worst plays in college,” Ament said. But he wasn’t offended. “It’s important to have a coach who sees that.”

The same was true for Burries, who received his own lowlight tape. “It just shows how much he cares,” he said.

Both players are expected to make their Bucks debut during NBA Summer League next month, where Jenkins said the focus will be on earning opportunities and “mapping out” their roles on the roster.

“When we talk about building our identity and culture, these guys truly are competitors,” Jenkins said. “They bring the energy … but they’re also going to bring the personalities that allow us to achieve what we want night in and night out.”

Burries and Ament aren’t the only new Bucks. The team drafted 21-year-old small forward Malique Lewis in the second round. The Bucks also acquired Tyler Herro, Kel’el Ware, forward Jaime Jaquez Jr. and guard Kasparas Jakučionis in the trade.

After the press conference, Burries and Ament posed for photos with their families, Bucks employees and kids from the Boys & Girls Club. In addition to their goals on the court, the players said they look forward to connecting with community members, especially youth, in the city.

“I love working with kids,” Ament said. “If I had NBA players as accessible to me as we are going to be to them, it would have been a lot more motivation for me to get where I wanted to go.”

Photos

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