By ADAM ZAGORIA
The Phoenix Suns entered the NBA Draft Lottery with the best chance at the No. 1 overall pick at 25 percent.
And they are leaving with the rights to the No. 1 pick in the June 21 NBA Draft — which could well turn out to be former Arizona star Deandre Ayton, who would become the first No. 1 pick out of Arizona and the first ever by the Suns.
“He better be,” Mychal Thompson, the only Bahamian ever taken at No. 1, told The New York Times in March of Ayton, a fellow native of the Bahamas. “He’s the best player in college basketball so if whoever has the No. 1 pick doesn’t pick him, they’re missing out on a chance at the next David Robinson.”
A finalist for the prestigious Naismith and Wooden Awards, the 7-foot Ayton averaged 19.9 points, 11.4 rebounds and 1.9 blocks while notching 21 double-doubles as Arizona won the Pac-12 regular-season title and tournament titles. He was named both the Pac-12 Player and Freshman of the Year.