DeAndre Ayton is so sure he deserves to be the top pick in this year’s NBA Draft that he concluded his private workout with the Phoenix Suns by telling media that “I know I’m going No. 1.”
Ayton won’t work out for any other teams during the pre-Draft process.
Arizona is a state Ayton already has history with — he graduated from Phoenix-based Hillcrest Prep before staying in-state to play college ball at the University of Arizona in Tuscon.
Ayton flirted with the idea of playing alongside Suns star Devin Booker, telling media “That’s Shaq and Kobe 2.0 … We could really make something happen in Phoenix.”
The idea of playing alongside Booker came one step closer to fruition after Suns GM Ryan McDonough called Ayton’s workout “phenomenal.”
“It was everything that we expected from DeAndre. Obviously we’ve watched him closely at Arizona and we’ve scouted him heavily in person at games, in practice, and on film, and he showed us what we expected to see… We saw him finish a lot around the basket and then we put him in mid-range, and then out to the NBA 3 offensively”
After his workout, Ayton spent the rest of the day watching Game 3 of the NBA Finals with Booker, Josh Jackson and Marquese Chriss.
