Suns hold position in the NBA Draft at #13 overall

Suns fans will feel comfortable on draft night as the Suns held their position in the draft at #13 overall. This is the fifth time in the last nine seasons of lottery participation that the Suns have picked 13th or 14th.

Perhaps the biggest news of the lottery for the Suns came with the Lakers holding on to their own first-round pick this year, which the Suns traded to the Sixers in the Brandon Knight trade. The worst case scenario of that pick was it going to the Sixers this season and now that fear can be gone. Now that the pick will stay with the Lakers we can safely assume that they are going to spend a lot of money this offseason, which should translate to a higher draft pick.

The worst news of the night was that the Heat did not give up their first round pick to the Sixers, which pushes the two first rounders the Suns will eventually get from Miami in the Goran Dragic trade a year back. The pick intended for the Sixers still has protections on it for another year, which means that the Suns could wind up not having their own first-round pick with protections from Miami until 2019. The Suns could possibly not get those Miami picks until 2019 and 2021.

The Suns recent history of picking in this range may have some fans upset, but this is a very good draft in terms of what the Suns are looking for and where they are picking. There are very good fits for what the Suns need in the middle of the first round with size, shooting, rebounding, and defense all available. Some prospects even do a little bit of all of that.

You can learn more about these prospects from some of our earlier posts on them. We will also have a best fits column later this week and keep an eye out for more draft coverage leading up to June 25.