Regardless of whether or not the Suns ‘won’ or ‘lost’ the lottery in 2017, they were guaranteed a top-5 pick in the draft. This would be the ninth time in their history that they would own a top-5 selection, and the second in two years.
Phoenix’s first ever top-5 selection came in 1969 after the infamous lost coin toss for the right to draft Lew Alcindor. They subsequently drafted top-5 four times in six years from 1972 to 1977, although they would not draft top-5 again until they lost the lottery to the San Antonio Spurs in 1987, and thus the right to draft David Robinson.
From there there would be a 26-year gap between top-5 picks (probably exactly how Suns fans would prefer it unless they pulled a Boston Celtics and fleeced an awful team for their lottery picks), however they have now reached this point three times in the last five years, and for the first time in their history, twice in a row.