According to ESPN, Atlanta Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk told 95.7 The Game in San Francisco on Friday that his team had been in talks with the Milwaukee Bucks for a deal centered around swapping the 17th and 19th picks.
Schlenk revealed that he never had to make that deal because the media spoiled what the Phoenix Suns were going to do at 16. John Gambadoro of Arizona Sports 98.7 says the Suns were selecting Villanova guard Donte DiVincenzo before Phoenix elected to do a trade with Philadelphia. Zhaire Smith was the selection by Phoenix here and he was traded to the Sixers.
Being told the Phoenix Suns will select Donte Divencenzo with the 16th pick
— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) June 22, 2018
Suns traded with Philly
— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) June 22, 2018
Crazy final minutes Suns were selecting DiVincenzo but got trade call from Philly and instead made trade with Philly for Mikal Bridges
— John Gambadoro (@Gambo987) June 22, 2018
Then Shams Charania leaked the news of the Bucks pick before it aired on television.
Sources: The Milwaukee Bucks have selected Donte DiVincenzo with the No. 17 pick in the NBA draft.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) June 22, 2018
The Atlanta Hawks were interested in selecting Maryland guard Kevin Huerter and assumed that they would have to engage in a trade with the Milwaukee Bucks in order to get him earlier in the draft if the Suns did indeed select DiVincenzo. The Suns trade news leaked, the Hawks pulled out of a deal to move up, the Bucks selected Donte DiVincenzo and Atlanta ended up with Kevin Huerter at the 19th pick.
“Last night, for instance, we had the 19th pick, and we’re coming down and we’re actually talking to Milwaukee on the 17th pick, talking about trading up to get a guy we like,” Schlenk said. “There’s were a couple of guys we felt really good about on the 19th pick, obviously Kevin [Huerter] was one of them, and it leaked who Milwaukee was going to take.”
A few days before the draft it was reported that major media outlets that had broadcast rights agreements with the NBA, most notably reporters working for ESPN, Turner and Yahoo!, would not be able to leak picks. That didn’t last long.
You can catch a recap of the 2018 NBA draft here in case you missed it.
