Suns GM: 'Certainly open' to trading No. 1 pick

After winning Tuesday's NBA draft lottery, Phoenix Suns general manager Ryan McDonough said the team will consider all options with the No. 1 pick next month, including a trade.

"We're certainly open to that. We'll consider it," McDonough said in an interview on ESPN at the combine in Chicago. "Obviously, we'll have more information closer to the draft than we do today, after we go through the workout process and the interview process and we get the medical physicals. So we're open to that.

"I think if you look around the NBA, as far as the veteran players, there are probably a few players we'd consider trading the pick for, not ... just pick for player No. 1. So it'll be a busy month for us."

McDonough said immediately after the team won the lottery that a trade was "unlikely," but he qualified that statement Friday by saying an offer including a rising star with a few years under contract could be tempting.

Arizona center DeAndre Ayton and Slovenian forward Luka Doncic are among the contenders to go first overall on June 21 at Barclays Center, and both players have connections to the Suns. Phoenix scouted Ayton extensively while he played for the Wildcats in Tucson, while new head coach Igor Kokoskov coached Doncic on the Slovenian national team, which won last year's European championship.

The 19-year-old Real Madrid star -- who is not at the combine while his team competes in the EuroLeague playoffs -- told Eurohoops.net on Thursday that he's currently unsure if he will join the NBA next season, though most in the NBA expect him to make the jump.

Another possibility to go first would be Duke forward Marvin Bagley III, who became the first player in school history to lead the ACC in scoring and rebounding last season.

"I've never been with a franchise that's had the No. 1 pick," McDonough said. "So it's a big responsibility, but especially in this draft with the talent at the top that we look forward to.

"It is difficult. And I think people are jumping to conclusions, as far as there's only one or two guys in the mix for us. There are more than that ... there are a handful of guys."

McDonough added that this draft class features the "most talented grouping" of big men that he can recall since entering the league in 2003, which should help the Suns fill a need at center. One way or another, he intends to address that position and grab a guard by the end of the draft.

"I think a lot of what we do at 16 will be predicated with what we do at No. 1," McDonough said. "And it wouldn't make sense to draft guys at the same positions or similar positions at 1 and 16. So if we go with a big at 1, probably a perimeter player at 16 or vice versa.

"Another option we may have available given the number of assets we've accumulated, given the additional first-round picks we have coming from Milwaukee and Miami and the 31st pick -- the first pick in the second round -- we'll look at packaging to move up potentially, as well, if there's a player in the mid-to-late lottery that we like."

--Field Level Media