Josiah-Jordan James on potentially returning to Tennessee for fifth season: 'I'm not shutting that door'
Josiah-Jordan James knows he has options after his senior season with Tennessee basketball ends. And it sounds like he plans on exploring all of them.
James for the first time this spring will be able to go through the NBA’s pre-draft process. He also has another year of eligibility remaining — thanks to the additional year given to student-athletes who played during the COVID season — and could return to the Vols if he chose to do so.
“So I’m not shutting that door on the potential of coming back for a fifth year next year,” James said Wednesday during a speaking engagement at the Big Orange Tip-Off Club in Knoxville. “But after the season, I’ll go do pre-draft workouts. I wasn’t able to do it last year because I had to have knee surgery, just a small scope, that actually lingered to the beginning of this year.”
Josiah-Jordan James averaging 9.5 points, 5.3 rebounds in 16 games for Vols this season
James missed eight games in total earlier this season — two separate stretches of four games each — and has missed the last four games for No. 11 Tennessee due to a left ankle sprain he suffered in the 66-65 loss at Vanderbilt on February 8.
“Hopefully, barring any setbacks, I’ll be able to compete in the NBA Combine,” James said, “go do team workouts, individual workouts for teams. So I’m really looking forward to that, getting feedback.
“And if a team is high on me and they want to draft me, and I think I can do it, I’ll probably take that next step and try to play in the NBA.”
James was a five-star prospect in the 2019 recruiting class out of Porter-Gaud School in Charleston, S.C. He’s played in 100 career games at Tennessee, averaging 8.8 points, 5.9 rebounds and 2.1 steals in 27.9 minutes per game, starting 81 times.
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He has a plan in place for when he’s done playing the game, too.
“After my playing career is over with,” he said on Wednesday, “I want to become a coach. Right now I don’t have the patience for it. But hopefully down the road I can do that.”
James is averaging 9.5 points and 5.3 rebounds, shooting 37.5 percent from the field and 30.1 percent from the 3-point line. He has started eight times in 16 games, averaging 23.9 minutes per game.
Up Next: No. 11 Tennessee vs. South Carolina, Saturday, 6 p.m. ET, SEC Network
Tennessee (20-8, 9-6 SEC) hosts South Carolina (10-18, 3-12) on Saturday (6 p.m. Eastern Time; TV: SEC Network) at Thompson-Boling Arena.
James was listed as a game-time decision for Tennessee before the 68-63 loss at Texas A&M. He was dressed and went through pregame warmups but never left the bench after tipoff.
He updated his status Wednesday while speaking to the Big Orange Tip-Off Club.
“I’m doing great,” James said. “These last couple weeks I’ve been doing extensive work with Chad (Newman), our athletic trainer, and then ‘G’ (Garrett Medenwald), our strength and conditioning coach. Hopefully, barring any setbacks, I’ll be out there Saturday. Looking forward to it.”
