Suns and Kings win big in NBA Draft Lottery.
May 17, 2018
The Phoenix Suns and the Sacramento Kings had their most important wins on Tuesday, they won the first two picks in the 2018 NBA Draft Lottery. This means that they will have the ability to draft two of the drafts top prospects, Real Madrid’s Luka Dončić & Arizona’s Deandre Ayton.
The Suns have had a lot of drama that ultimately culminated with a disappointing 21-61 record this season, with multiple injuries, firing their coach, and the whole Eric Bledsoe drama. Now the biggest question for the Suns is who will they draft with the first pick, Luka Dončić or Deandre Ayton? Theres multiple factors when it comes to these two prospects as Dončić ‘s former coach Igor Kokoškov is now the head coach of the Suns. If the Suns take Dončić , having Kokoskov around should help make his transition to the NBA much easier. On the other hand, Deandre Ayton has balled out just down the street at Arizona. Ayton is a talented center with great intangibles who is a known quantity among all NBA talent evaulators, but he will be particularly familiar to the Phoenix front office. It’s also possible for Ayton to be selected if Phoenix doesn’t retain former 2013 first round pick Alex Len, as he hasn’t exactly played out. Ayton will also have the strong mentor with Tyson Chandler.
Getting the 2nd pick was both a win and a loss for the Kings, who’ve never had the opportunity to pick this high since they were known as the Kansas City Kings. With a strong backcourt in future MVP candidate DeAaron Fox and Buddy Hield, along with a solid young core primarily focused on Bogdan Bogdanović, It’s unlikely that the Kings will focus on Dončić. They will most likely focus their efforts and go after Ayton, who will most likely improve the front court and possibly play alongside with current starting center Willie Cauley-Stein.
The 2018 NBA draft will be held on June 21, 2018 at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York at 7:00 EST and will be broadcasted by ESPN. Tune in to see who your team will chose, and if you ultimately end up hating it, there’s always next year!
