Deandre Ayton after Suns workout: 'I know I'm going No. 1'
Deandre Ayton had a pre-draft workout with the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday, who hold the first pick in the NBA draft later this month.
By the way he was talking after the workout, it sounds like the 7-foot-1 center knows exactly where he’ll go in the draft.
“I know I’m going No. 1,” Ayton told reporters Wednesday.
On working out for other teams: “No one else… I know I’m going number one.”
-Deandre Ayton pic.twitter.com/OX5WC0pYaW
— Phoen1x Šuns (@Suns) June 6, 2018
Ayton said nobody in the Suns organization promised him anything. However, he will not conduct any more workouts with other teams in the league ahead of the June 21 draft, and is a heavy favorite among analysts to be the top pick.
“Nobody told me [I’ll go first],” Ayton said. “That’s just me. I think I deserve that. I’ve worked hard.
“I won’t say I’m the best player. I won’t say that. I will say on the competitive level, I’m the best competitor.
Ayton averaged 20.1 points, 11.6 rebound and 1.9 blocks per game in his freshman campaign at Arizona last season, and has strong ties to the Phoenix area. He went to high school there after moving from the Bahamas, and said that most of his family lives in the area now too.
“It’s great [that he wants to be here],” general manager Ryan McDonough said after the workout, which he called “phenomenal.” “We take that as a compliment. He has a lot of strong ties to this area. He’s been working out here, he’s been training here.
“The fact that he wants to be here, that’s great.”
On Ayton wanting to be here: “It’s great. We take that as a compliment. He has a lot of strong ties to this area.”
-GM Ryan McDonough pic.twitter.com/kd3Qj6uIMi
— Phoen1x Šuns (@Suns) June 6, 2018
Another added bonus to landing in Phoenix, Ayton said, would be playing with guard Devin Booker, who the Suns drafted in the first round of the 2015 NBA draft and has shined with the team ever since.
“That’s Shaq and Kobe 2.0,” Ayton said. “We could really make something happen in Phoenix.”
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