Josiah-Jordan James and Julian Phillips–two key contributors for Tennessee this past season–are currently going through the NBA Draft process head coach Rick Barnes told reporters at the Big Orange Caravan in Nashville on Wednesday.
James averaged 10 points, 4.7 rebounds and 37.2% shooting while Phillips averaged 8.3 points and 4.7 points per game, shooting 41.1% from the field during the Vols' 2022-23 campaign.
Both players have not signed with an agent and have the option to return.
"Both Josiah and Julian are gong through the NBA process," Barnes said. "That's why they have to do and it's a process they have to go through. They're certainly training for it. We want what's best for them. That's just a process they have to go through."
James arrived at Tennessee as a highly touted recruit in the 2019 signing class. He was ranked No. 14 nationally by Rivals and was a McDonald's All-American selection out of Porter-Guad High School in Charleston, South Carolina.
It didn't take long for James to make an impact as a freshman at Tennessee, averaging more than five rebounds per game and leading the team in 3-point percentage. He led the team in rebounding, averaging 6.0 per game as junior and helped lead the Vols to an SEC Tournament title in 2021-22.
James missed much of non-conference play with lingering knee soreness from an offseason procedure, appearing in just five of Tennessee's first 13 games.
He re-entered the rotation against Mississippi State on Jan. 3 and saw the floor for a then-season high 17 minutes in the Vols' 87-53 win. James' presence increased in the following weeks. He made the starting lineup at Mississippi State just two weeks later and remained there until suffering a sprained late in the second half versus Vanderbilt on Feb. 8.
James was sidelined again for the next four games, but played in every remaining game on Tennessee's schedule, as well as five postseason games.
Phillip was regarded as a possible first round pick throughout much of his freshman season. The 6-foot-8 forward spent the first two months of the season in the starting rotation as James was sidelined with knee soreness. Phillips scored a season-high 25 points versus Southern Cal in the Battle 4 Atlantis and finished with 15 points or more in four other games.
Phillips' impressive campaign came to a halt after suffering a hip flexor injury in the first half of the Missouri game on Feb. 11. He missed the next four games but returned in Tennessee's 75-57 thumping of Arkansas in the second to last regular season game.
For the remainder of the season, Phillips came off of the bench but played a critical role, seeing 12-plus minutes per game. He scored 10 points in the Vols' 79-71 loss to Missouri in the SEC Tournament quarterfinals.
Tennessee will return senior guard and leading scorer Santiago Vescovi, who announced his intentions to return for a fifth and final season on Tuesday. The Vols also added two commitments from the transfer portal in USC Upstate guard Jordan Gainey and Harvard forward Chris Ledlum this week.
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