Suns will not trade No. 1 pick for Kawhi Leonard

Scott Bordow | The Republic | azcentral.com

A report surfaced Friday saying the Suns would explore the possibility of trading the No. 1 pick in Thursday’s draft for San Antonio’s Kawhi Leonard.

There’s no truth to the report. In fact, the Suns have no interest in dealing the top pick – which likely will be University of Arizona center Deandre Ayton – in exchange for Leonard, who reportedly wants to be traded.

From the Suns’ standpoint, the trade makes little sense. Leonard will be a free agent after the 2018-19 season. Phoenix would risk trading its most valuable asset for a player who might not be around for more than one year.

Phoenix could try to convince Leonard to sign a five-year contract extension, but why would Leonard sign long-term with a team that has missed the playoffs eight straight seasons? Also, most NBA observers believe Leonard is determined to hit free agency so he can choose his team.

It’s unlikely the Suns have enough other assets to satisfy the Spurs. Reports have said San Antonio will seek young players with star potential, and the only two players on Phoenix’s roster that fit that criteria are Devin Booker, who’s untouchable, and Josh Jackson. But, again, consider the risk: Is trading Jackson worth possibly having Leonard for just one season?

Phoenix could be involved in a Leonard deal, however, as a third team facilitator. Leonard reportedly has expressed interest in playing for the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Lakers have enough young assets to potentially satisfy the Spurs. Phoenix could get involved by taking Luol Deng’s contract off the Lakers’ hands – he has two years and $36 million left on his deal – in exchange for one of Los Angeles’ young players. Say, for example, point guard Lonzo Ball.

This much is certain: The Suns will not trade their No. 1 pick for Leonard.

Zhaire Smith in last workout

The Suns had six players in Saturday for their final scheduled workout before Thursday’s draft. The six players were Texas Tech’s Zhaire Smith, Georgia Tech’s Josh Okogie, center Markus Loncar from Bosnia, Oregon State center Drew Eubanks, Wake Forest guard Bryant Crawford and Notre Dame forward Bonzie Colson.

Of the six, only Smith and Okogie are projected to be first-round picks.

The 6-foot-5, 195-pound Smith has been linked to the Suns at No. 16, and he would fill a roster need as a perimeter defender who can guard three different positions.

Pat Connelly, potential first-round draft picks speak after Suns pre-draft workout Suns assistant GM Pat Connelly and potential first-round picks Zhaire Smith and Josh Okogie talk after the last predraft workout.

“He will be an elite athlete in the NBA,” Assistant General Manager Pat Connelly said. “His length, his athleticism, his ability to defend, his desire to defend. So I think when he comes in from Day 1, that will be one of his (most appealing) points.

“He can guard ones, he’s long enough and strong enough and athletic enough to guard bigger threes. He can guard up in size and guard down in size, so I think it’s probably an appropriate take that you can see him being a jack-of-all-trades defensively. I think he could come in and make it hard for a lot of guys in the league.”

Smith is not as advanced offensively. He averaged 11.3 points per game at Texas Tech and attempted just 1.1 3-point attempts per game. That has something to do with the fact he played center in high school and wasn’t asked to be a shooter.

Okogie an interesting prospect

Georgia Tech’s Okogie has moved up draft boards since an impressive performance at the NBA draft combine. He’s projected to be a late first-round pick who could slide to the Suns at No. 31.

The 6-4, 213-pound Okogie averaged 18.2 points per game and shot 38 percent from 3-point range his sophomore season but acknowledged his combine performance was important because of Georgia Tech’s record (13-19) last season.

“I just showed my athleticism,” Okogie said. “I don’t think people knew I could jump that high or run that fast and do all the things people didn’t really get a chance to see while I was playing. We weren’t the hottest team in the country, so there wasn’t a game people liked to turn on and watch.”

Suns not ruling anyone out

Phoenix ended its scheduled workouts without having some of the draft’s top point guards – Oklahoma’s Trae Young, Alabama’s Collin Sexton or Kentucky’s Shai Gilgeous-Alexander – in for a look.

But Connelly said the Suns will still consider drafting players they didn’t bring in for a workout.

“We don’t discount anybody because they didn’t come in,” Connelly said. “It’s always nice to get them because that’s our time to interact with them but just because they didn’t come in, it could be a function of schedule … there are 29 other teams doing this, so I wouldn’t say there’s a percentage downgrade for guys that didn’t come in.

“Is it a bonus that we get more time with them? For sure. But we study everybody. Just because guys didn’t come in doesn’t mean we’re going to move them too far around on our board.”

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