Suns add Okobo, King in 2nd round
Suns General Manager Ryan McDonough said that the first round of Thursday night’s NBA draft was about making history. The second round came down to searching for “positional balance.”
With the 31st overall pick, the Suns selected Elie Okobo, a 20-year-old guard from France. They would end the night by taking George King, a guard out of Colorado, with the 59th pick. Those two will join Deandre Ayton and Mikal Bridges to round out the Suns’ 2018 draft class.
At the time of the draft, Okobo (6-2, 180) was averaging 13.8 points and 4.7 assists per game for Pau-Lacq-Orthez, his French team.
He scored 44 points on May 23 in a French League playoff game, when his eighth-seeded team took on the No. 1 seed.
“We’re very excited about him,” McDonough said. “He really impressed us with his size, athleticism, shooting.”
Scouts had heralded Okobo’s scoring potential ahead of the draft.
He came to Phoenix to work out for the Suns on June 4. There, the Suns were impressed with the recent growth they had seen in Okobo.
“He’s pretty high level for a young guy who hasn’t played a lot of basketball,” McDonough said. “He was not a guy that, maybe two years ago, was in a situation to be a potential first-round, second-round pick. He got better quickly.”
McDonough confirmed that Okobo will be on the Suns’ roster next year, while noting that with his recent progression, the team is not sure what Okobo’s ceiling is.
“Elie has got really good size. He’s got good length. He’s explosive, he’s a good shooter,” McDonough said. “Just his production at the French pro-A level, playing against men in Europe at a young age, and the rapid progression this year, that’s intriguing to us. We feel like he’s just scratching the surface of his potential.”
Okobo was a French League All-Star this season – the previous year, he was runner-up for the French League’s Best Young Player.
“If you saw him a few years ago, he wasn’t a guy who passed a ton,” said Suns assistant general manager Pat Connelly after the workout. “This year, we got to see him being a point guard and his playmaking got a lot better, especially in the pick and roll.”
McDonough said that the team had him rated higher than the 31st slot. From New York, Okobo indicated that he was just excited to be selected.
“It’s an amazing feeling right now,” Okobo told reporters after the draft. “It’s amazing to be a part of this process, get your name called in the NBA draft. I’ll be a part of the Phoenix Suns. It’s amazing for me, and I really appreciate it.”
McDonough indicated that King (6-6, 225) will receive a two-way contract.
In his senior campaign, King averaged 12.9 points and 7.8 rebounds.
The 24-year-old spent five years at Colorado, redshirting the 2014-15 season. He broke out in his sophomore season and was named the Pac-12 Conference’s Most Improved Player of the Year.
“(He’s) more experienced, more mature than a lot of the guys in this process,” McDonough said. “(He’s) a talented two-way wing. I think he’s got a seven-foot wingspan. He probably projects more as a shooting guard than a small forward, but we think with his length and strength, he can play either spot.”
The option to develop King either way was appealing to the Suns’ front office.
McDonough noted that the team will need to look to veterans and utilize the rest of their salary cap “to upgrade our roster.” Still, he felt the combination of the four picks put the team in a position to win.
“If you look at in totality with all four picks ... we like the positional balance and the opportunity for those guys to grow together,” McDonough said.