One. Another. Then, 38 more — it’s safe to say then-Phoenix Suns head coach Earl Watson was satisfied.
Hosting a prospective Jayson Tatum for pre-draft workouts in 2017, the former UCLA standout was convinced he’d found his man for the Suns No. 4 overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft, reports the Athletic’s Jay King.
It was recently revealed on the “All the Smoke” podcast hosted by former UCLA teammate Matt Barnes and fellow ex-NBAer Stephen Jackson that Tatum initially hoped to be drafted by Phoenix.
The now-Boston Celtics standout was on the show to talk a variety of issues, and when discussion of his college days led to his arrival in the league, this bombshell tidbit shook out of the conversation.
King went straight to Watson to get his end of that tale, and the former Suns coach related his version of events.
“[Tatum] drilled 40 straight off the first shot,” Watson explained. “Forty straight. So I immediately turned to the owner and the GM. And I said, ‘What else do we need to see?'”
Evidently, a lot.
“I was pushing Tatum,” Watson offered.
“We had to move up for Tatum, we had to get Tatum. And ownership chose Josh Jackson. … I knew the two players were dynamically different, but my vision was what’s the best fit for Devin Booker. Booker and Tatum, I think a combination like that right now would have been completely different than anything in the NBA at that age.”
Such a combo would get almost anyone excited, though admittedly we’re looking backwards with the sort of 20/20 vision on the Duke product’s future that was admittedly far from settled yet.
Suns owner Robert Sarver, however, saw the situation quite differently; “We don’t need another Devin Booker,” he is remembered as saying by Watson.
“I’ve never seen anything like it,” the ex-Suns coach claimed. “I could see it quick like I saw it in Devin Booker quick, when people questioned it … And the owner stopped him [during the shooting drill].”
“I don’t know how many more he could have made, but the owner stopped the drill. And you don’t stop that drill. You just don’t. You just sit there and you admire it and you stay out of the way. So the owner stops the drill and says, ‘That’s nice. What else can you do?'”
“I’m like, ‘What? What? The workout should be over. This is our guy,'” Watson added.
While the Suns would have had to have convinced the Los Angeles Lakers to pass on their darling of that draft, point guard Lonzo Ball.
And while they’d telegraphed their intention of taking Ball for weeks, it’s not out of the question that competent, committed ownership could potentially have managed to swing such a deal.
Mercifully for the Celtics and their fans though, Phoenix stumbled on this particular prospect.
