Suns don’t stray far for No. 1 pick
Canadian guard, meanwhile, taken at No. 11
NEW YORK — The Phoenix Suns stayed close to home for their first No. 1 pick. The Dallas Mavericks looked all the way to Slovenia for the player they hope can be their next European superstar.
Shortly after the Suns took Deandre Ayton to start Thursday’s NBA draft, the Mavericks traded up two spots for the rights to Luka Doncic at No. 3.
The Atlanta Hawks swapped the rights to Doncic to Atlanta for Trae Young, the No. 5 selection from Oklahoma.
The Mavericks also gave up a future first-round pick to draft Doncic, who only arrived in New York Wednesday after helping Spain’s Real Madrid win its league championship after he won Euroleague MVP and final four MVP honours when they won that title this year.
The Hawks will get perhaps the most exciting player in college basketball last season in Young, the first player to lead the nation in scoring and assists in the same season.
“Whatever city I went to, I was going to be able to be comfortable in,” Young said. “I was just really excited to get to Atlanta.”
Otherwise, the top of the draft was dominated by big men, starting with a pair of former high school teammates.
The Suns made the 7-foot-1 Ayton the first No. 1 pick in franchise history. The centre from Arizona averaged 20.1 points and 11.6 rebounds in his lone season there.
He joined Mychal Thompson — father of Golden State all-star Klay Thompson — in 1978 as the only players from the Bahamas to be the No. 1 pick in the draft.
The Sacramento Kings followed by taking Marvin Bagley III, the Duke big man who played with Ayton at Hillcrest Prep Academy in Phoenix in 2015-16.
With Jaren Jackson Jr. going fourth to Memphis, Texas centre Mo Bamba going No. 6 to Orlando and Wendell Carter Jr. following to Chicago, it was an early run of big men in what has increasingly become a perimeter-based league.
Then it was another guard with Alabama’s Collin Sexton going at No. 8 to Cleveland, triggering chants of Michael Porter Jr.’s name by Knicks fans who hoped they would take him with the No. 9 pick. But they ended up disappointed as New York went with Kentucky’s Kevin Knox.
With concerns over back problems that limited him to only three games at Missouri last season, Porter ended up falling all the way to Denver at No. 14, the last lottery position.
There was another trade among lottery teams as the Charlotte Hornets sent the rights to No. 11 pick Shai Gilgeous-Alexander of Hamilton, Ont., to the Clippers for No. 12 pick Miles Bridges and two future second-round picks.
Gilgeous-Alexander, whose draft night attire had social-media buzzing, started his one season at Kentucky on the bench, but worked his way into the starting lineup, scoring 16.4 points a night the rest of the way.
Considered the best point guard in the draft, Gilgeous-Alexander has impressive length — he’s sixfoot-six with a six-foot-11 wingspan.
Long before his name was called at Barclays Center, Gilgeous-Alexander was all over the internet for his champagne-coloured floral suit made by Jhoanna Alba.