KNOXVILLE, Tenn. – Senior guard Ja’Kobi Gillespie of the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team went No. 42 overall in the 2026 NBA Draft, chosen in the second round Wednesday night by the San Antonio Spurs at Barclays Center in Brooklyn, N.Y.
The 12th selection of the second round, on the second day of the draft, Gillespie was the ninth player picked from an SEC school.
Gillespie is the 59th player drafted out of Tennessee. He is the fourth choice by the San Antonio Spurs, following Kennedy Chandler (No. 38 in 2022), Jordan McRae (No. 58 in 2014) and Reggie Johnson (No. 15 in 1980).
A native of nearby Greeneville, Tenn., Gillespie is the fifth in-state player selected from Tennessee in the last eight years, following Jordan Bone (No. 57 in 2019), Keon Johnson (No. 21 in 2021), Kennedy Chandler (No. 38 in 2022) and Chaz Lanier (No. 37 in 2025).
Gillespie is the second Volunteer tabbed in the 2026 NBA Draft. Nate Ament went No. 13 overall Tuesday night to the Miami Heat, with his rights traded to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Head coach Rick Barnes, meanwhile, has now had 37 players drafted into the NBA. That includes 12 Volunteers, all in the last eight years (2019-26). This is the ninth time multiple Barnes pupils went in the same NBA Draft.
Following two campaigns at Belmont and one at Maryland, Gillespie spent his final year at Tennessee and turned in a historic year. He became the fifth Division I player, including the first from the SEC, to compile 200 assists, 100 made 3-pointers and 75 steals in a single season.
Gillespie averaged 18.4 points, 5.4 assists and 2.1 steals per game, leading the team in each of those categories, while adding 2.8 rebounds per outing. He shot 81.0 percent at the free-throw line, too.
The 6-foot-1, 188-pounder racked up 79 steals to break the program’s single-season record that stood for 32 years. Gillespie logged eight takeaways in a game on two occasions, to set and then tie the school’s single-game record. He also had six steals in the Elite Eight matchup with Michigan to set a Tennessee best in NCAA Tournament play.
Gillespie also finished third in minutes (1,286), fifth in made 3-pointers (103), sixth in assists (201) and No. 11 in points (681) on Tennessee’s single-season leaderboard. He became the first Volunteer with 650 points and 200 assists in a campaign, as well as the second to average at least 18.0 points and 5.0 assists per outing.
Tabbed a First Team All-SEC honoree by the league’s coaches and the SEC Newcomer of the Year by the Associated Press, Gillespie was also named an NABC First Team All-Central District designee. He was a finalist for the Lute Olson Award and the Riley Wallace Award, plus NCAA Midwest Region All-Tournament Team plaudits after averaging 21.8 points, 5.3 assists, 3.0 rebounds and 2.8 steals per game across four affairs.
Gillespie produced 1,945 points, 587 assists and 252 steals in his four-year career, one of just eight Division I players in the 3-point era (since 1986-87) to reach each of those marks.
Over the last eight drafts, Tennessee is one of just four institutions with a player drafted in at least seven, joining Arkansas, Duke and Kentucky. The Volunteers are also one of only five teams with a player selected in each of the last six years, alongside Baylor, Connecticut, Duke and Kentucky.
To keep up with the University of Tennessee men’s basketball team on social media, follow @Vol_Hoops on , and X/Twitter, as well as /tennesseebasketball on Facebook.
