Smooth Operator: Class of 2025 Highland Park Star Nate Ament Details How Family and Competitiveness Shaped His Journey

This story appears in SLAM 252. Get your copy now.

Growing up the youngest of four siblings, Nate Ament did everything his brothers did. It’s why when it comes to sports, soccer was the first thing he gravitated to. His older brothers played it, so he did, too. And when his third oldest brother Frederick started to pick up basketball, Nate was more than game.

By the time he was 10, the rapidly growing Manassas, VA, native realized that he was going to be too tall to stay on the pitch. So hoops it was. It started out as 1s and 2s at the local elementary school. After a two-minute walk, Nate and his brothers were on the blacktop, meeting up with Nate’s classmates and Frederick’s friends from high school. The battles were fun, but it was pride that Nate was seeking, even in middle school.

“The part that I fell in love with was being able to play a sport where you can take someone 1-on-1 and you can try to beat them, not just offensively but defensively,” Nate says. “Being able to have a matchup is being able to say, I’m gonna guard you the whole game. I’m gonna stop you from scoring on me. I’m gonna make sure my team wins. So, I really fell in love with the competitiveness of it.”

Seven years later, that will, love and determination serves as the foundation of Nate’s game, a game that has seen him blossom into a consensus top-5 player in the Class of 2025 and the No. 1 player in the state of Virginia. Duke, Kansas, Kentucky, UConn, Virginia and many, many others have stamped the five-star do-it-all wing as a future difference-maker for their squads.

Between the 3SSB circuit and his tape out at Highland High School, it’s easy to classify Ament as the modern NBA archetype. He’s a lengthy 6-9 forward who’s continuously fine-tuning the framework of his three-level scoring. The locks on defense are there, too. Mind you, with a handle and quickness to break down defenders in transition and off the wing. Size-ups, step-back treys and low-post fades, it’s all his game.

“From when I first started playing basketball to now, I knew that you just have to be consistent, always getting in the gym. In anything I did, I just knew that I wanted to be the best,” Nate says. “I just kept it consistent. I knew that I had the capabilities to be one of the best in the country. But for me, it was just important not to rush things and to stay patient with my journey, because my journey’s different than anyone else’s.”

As of late, the game has taken him from the gleaming lights of Times Square to the gold medal podium at the FIBA AmeriCup with the U18 USA Team. And to cap off a summer driven by years of commitment to his craft, he took home the Terrence Clarke Spalding MVP Award and the dub at the SLAM Summer Classic Vol. 6. While he netted contested jumpers and rose up to meet the rim more than a few times while playing at the Rucker Park, memories from his days on the blacktop resurfaced. He wanted to get the best of his matchup, just like his brothers.

“They try to be the best at everything they can do, whether that’s sports, whether that’s school, life or anything. I try to do that with basketball as well,” he says. “They’re kind of my motivation. I play hard for them. Not just for my brothers, but for my whole family, just to make sure that I’m representing the name on the back of my jersey in the best way possible.”

Portraits by Marcus Stevens.

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