As the clock ticks down until the Washington Wizards are officially on the clock with the No. 1 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, final mock drafts around the NBA media landscape are getting their projections out there.
For the Phoenix Suns who, barring a trade, only have the No. 47 pick of Round 2, mocks predict shoring up the guard depth with Jaden Bradley or Jeremy Fears Jr., adding more shooting with a Vanderbilt forward or even doubling down on shot-blocking with a center out of Tennessee.
But the latest NBA mock draft from Sports Illustrated has the Suns going yet another direction, targeting a score-first guard from Devin Booker’s alma mater.
Sports Illustrated’s NBA mock draft has Suns taking Kentucky Wildcats standout
In SI’s mock from Kevin Sweeney, Phoenix adds more scoring prowess with Kentucky’s Otega Oweh.
The 6-foot-5 guard averaged a career-best 18.6 points per game for the Wildcats as a senior. His scoring efficiency dipped to 46.5% from the floor and 33.3% from 3-point range compared to 49.2% and 35.5%, respectively, the season prior. However, Oweh can flat-out score the rock.
“Oweh is a physical wing with NFL bloodlines whose offensive arsenal has expanded every year of his career,” Sweeney writes. “His shooting mechanics are unorthodox and limit his ability to get his shot off in traffic, but there’s something to be said for him finding a way to make 45 threes as a senior at Kentucky. He was among the most productive players during the scrimmages during the NBA draft combine, averaging more than 20 points per game over the two days of games.”
And while Oweh’s calling card is his scoring ability, his tenacity on defense to the tune of 1.5 steals per game throughout his collegiate career (1.8 per game as a senior) would fit in extremely well on a Suns squad that improved by leaps and bounds on defense a year ago.
The Suns finished fourth in the NBA with 9.5 steals per game as a team and were top 10 in the league in defensive rating after finishing 28th in the category the season prior under head coach Mike Budenholzer.
Oweh is a score-first guard, but his ability to pick pockets and jump passing lanes on the defensive end fits exactly what head coach Jordan Ott’s crew excelled at throughout 2025-26.
Oweh entered college at Oklahoma as a raw, athletic defense-first guy, and evolved his game to be one of the more effective scoring wings in the SEC.
If the Suns feel confident they can hone Oweh’s offensive skills to find more consistency from long range, the potential he provides on both ends of the floor is certainly worth a look.
D-Book could take the fellow Kentucky product under his wing, and Oweh could immediately provide yet more scoring punch in the Suns’ second unit.
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