The Phoenix Suns were the big winners of the NBA Draft Lottery, using the best odds for being the worst team to parlay the ping pong balls into the first pick in the 2018 NBA Draft later this summer.
It’s the first time in franchise history that the Suns have snagged the first pick in the draft. But just because the Suns are in desperate need of a franchise player and at the start of a rebuild doesn’t necessarily mean they intend to use it.
Suns general manager Ryan McDonough appeared on ESPN2’s Draft Combine special and talked with Adrian Wojnarowski about what the team will be looking at in the coming weeks.
Asked if the pick could be traded as part of a larger package to help the team rebuild, McDonough said he hadn’t ruled anything out just yet.
“We’re certainly open to that. We’ll consider it,” McDonough said. “Obviously, we’ll have more information closer to the draft than we do today, after we go through the workout process and the interview process and we get the medical physicals. So we’re open to that.
“I think if you look around the NBA, as far as the veteran players, there are probably a few players we’d consider trading the pick for, not … just pick for player No. 1. So it’ll be a busy month for us.”
If the Suns do trade the pick, it would be the second straight year the first overall pick got swapped, as the Boston Celtics won the lottery and subsequently traded Philadelphia the top pick before the Sixers took Markelle Fultz. That’s a move that certainly worked out for Boston, who netted additional assets and got Jayson Tatum, who has helped the team reach the Eastern Conference Finals this season.
The Celtics, though, are in much better shape with the rest of its roster than the Suns are at this point. But at the very least, it appears any interested team can do more than just talk to the Memphis Grizzlies if they’re looking to reach the top of the draft board. And McDonough knows there’s a lot of pressure that comes with making any decision involving the top pick.
“I’ve never been with a franchise that’s had the No. 1 pick,” he said. “So it’s a big responsibility, but especially in this draft with the talent at the top that we look forward to.”
(ESPN)
