Phoenix Suns: Top 15 best draft picks in franchise history
By Adam Maynes
Prior to the Steve Nash era, the Phoenix Suns attempted to acquire superstar Tracy McGrady through a trade with the Orlando Magic. To acquire any star players in the summer of 2004, they needed to create as much cap space possible in the hopes of landing someone big.
They did: Nash. McGrady ended up in Houston. But in order to make such moves, the Suns opted to trade their first-round pick several days before the draft, the No. 7 overall selection, to the Chicago Bulls. Because the NBA does their draft selections oddly, even though the trade had been agreed upon days before the draft, Luol Deng was still technically drafted by the Suns, and for a brief moment, wore a Suns cap.
That was the only time he wore anything Suns related and never actually did anything with Phoenix to make him a Suns player.
Regardless, the Suns are credited with drafting him, so he is going to count in this list, absolutely deserving to be the ninth overall best pick in Suns history. (Oh, and do you know who also was available when the Suns technically drafted No. 7 overall? Future NBA Finals MVP Andre Iguodala.)
While the Suns fought for NBA titles, Deng was making a name for himself as a fantastic small forward, the perfect would-be backup in 2004-05, and then replacement to Joe Johnson in the subsequent three years (obviously presuming that the Suns were still able to acquire Nash — which was obviously possible since Nash signed for only $8.75M that first season and the team had cleared over $16M in cap space) had they kept him.
Averaging 18.8 points and 7.1 rebounds per game in 2006-07, Deng was beginning to make a name for himself as one of the top small forwards in the league, and one of the best up-and-coming young players of his era. Exactly what the Suns needed, and exactly what the Bulls had.
Not making an All-Star team in his first seven seasons, Deng averaged 16.0 points, 6.4 rebounds, 2.3 assists and 1.0 steals per game, while shooting 32.7 percent from 3 (although shooting 35.6 percent from 2007-2011).
Deng would finally make long-awaited back-to-back All-Star appearances in 2012 and 2013, although he would be traded from Chicago to the Cavaliers in 2014. Deng would finish the season in Cleveland, and sign a two-year deal with the Miami Heat before winding his career out with the Los Angeles Lakers.