There appear to be two prospects at the top of the 2018 NBA Draft who have a leg up in the race for being selected No. 1 overall: Arizona’s Deandre Ayton and Sacramento’s Luka Doncic. While there are a number of potentially great prospects in this draft, Ayton fills a huge need at center for the Phoenix Suns while Doncic has played for the team’s new head coach.
Should the Suns draft Ayton No. 1 — in addition to his position fit, he played his college ball at Arizona — the coast would be clear for the Sacramento Kings to add a much-needed infusion of talent on the wing in the form of Doncic. But of course, since Doncic plays abroad, the risk exists that he might not come over right away.
ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski had draft analysts Jonathan Givony and Mike Schmitz on the latest edition of his podcast, and the possibility of Doncic putting the Kings in a strange situation popped up.
“He’s gonna have a little bit of a say here in this process as well,” Givony said. “He’s actually under contract in Real Madrid and if he doesn’t wanna go to Sacramento, he could definitely make things hard on them and give them a lot to think about by saying “Guys, if you draft me, I’m gonna sign a huge extension, I’m gonna make 2 million Euro next year, and I’m not coming over until you trade my rights. He’s never at any point said 100 percent that he’s coming over next year. I think he would like to, obviously you want to get your rookie scale contract started, you wanna get moving on that second deal four years from now, but he has a lot more leverage in this process than anybody else in this draft.”
Givony pointed out that Sacramento doesn’t always appeal to young players, but this seemed more like a worst-case scenario for the Kings than a sign of things to come, so Sacramento fans who are nervous at the possibility of getting Fran Vazquez’d shouldn’t panic too much right now.
(Via The Woj Podcast)
