Suns’ Secret Stash: Bogdan Bogdanovic

The Phoenix Suns have four of the top 34 picks in this years NBA Draft. Whenever teams have either a lot of picks or enough players already on their roster, they often turn to a strategy referred to as the “Draft and Stash”.

“Draft and Stash” refers to the process of drafting a player who is already under contract with a team in another country and “stashing” them there. Instead of bringing a player onto the roster immediately, the team will allow them to continue to develop and play overseas while maintaining their rights for if/when they come play in the NBA.

This allows teams to invest in a player who may have a lot of potential, but isn’t interested in playing in the NBA or ready for the rigors of the NBA without having them take up a roster spot and count against the team’s salary cap. The Suns are considering this strategy with the 28^th and 34^th picks; it would not the first time Phoenix would have used a late 1^st round pick this way.

The Suns used this strategy in 2014 when they drafted a Serbian shooting guard named Bogdan Bogdanovic.

Phoenix has drafted European players before, however, each of the last three times, the Suns ended up trading the player on Draft day. Bogdanovic could be the first player the Suns have ever drafted, stashed and then actually played for the team.

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Bogdanovic will be a 24-year-old rookie if the Suns can negotiate a buyout with Bogdan’s current team, Fenerbahce Istanbul of the Turkish Basketball Super League. His play for Fenerbahce was excellent, leading his team to the Turkish Super Cup while being named Super Cup MVP. This qualified Bogdan’s team for the Euroleague Championships, an even larger stage for him to show off his talent.

Bogdan didn’t let Suns fans or his team down, despite a EuroLeague Championship Finals loss to CSKA Moscow. In the first game of the tournament, Bogdan finished with 18 points (9 points in overtime).

Unfortunately, Bogdan’s hot streak came to an end with only six points in the Finals. Regardless of his Finals performance though, Bogdan’s season was filled with accomplishments. His success is a continuation of the success he was having in the Serbian League where he was a 4-time Serbian League Champion and 2014 Serbian Finals MVP. Bogdan isn’t just playing; he is making an impact on every team he plays for. The Suns hope that trend continues when they “hopefully” bring him to the NBA later this year.

The only real question is, will the Suns be able to convince Bogdan, his agent, and his team, it is time for him to come to the NBA? Suns general manager Ryan McDonough told Arizona Sports 98.7 FM in March the Suns approach to bring him over. “We’ll present a plan for him about how we kind of envision his role with the Suns,” McDonough said. “He does have very high-level experience. In terms of coming to the NBA, he’d obviously be a rookie by NBA standards but if we are able to bring him over this year, which we’d like to do if we can, that at 24 years old we think he’d be one of the more ready-made guys to plug in and be able to hopefully play right away.”

Bogdan will likely have to make his decision very soon. The Euroleague Championships end only a few weeks before the NBA Draft and the Suns would like to know whether or not Bogdanovic will help fill out the depth chart at guard prior to the Draft. This way they can use their four picks as efficiently as possible.

McDonough explained Bogdan’s decision and it’s effect on the draft. “If we can get a commitment from him and his agent that he’ll be in a Suns uniform next year, I think that would certainly help us with some clarity as we approach the draft and free agency,” McDonough said.

Rumors are that he will be in the NBA next season. The buyout in his contract with Fenerbahce is allegedly around 1 million euros, or approximately $1.12MM. The NBA allows teams to pay up to $650,000 (up from $600,000 in 2014) without it counting against the salary cap.