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The Phoenix Suns may have felt like they won draft night, as they were able to land Khaman Maluach with the No. 10 pick, and it looks like they have their center of the future. There was always a good chance that Maluach was going to be a lottery pick, and even a top 10 pick, but it was never certain which team would draft him.
Well, leave it up to his agent, Rich Paul, and he was going to get his client to the team where he fits best. A video has just surfaced of Paul on the phone talking to owner Mat Ishbia about getting Maluach to the Suns.
“If you guys keep 10, I'm going to mention a name, and you tell me how much you like him. Khaman Maluach,” Paul said.
“A lot. That would be my first choice,” Ishbia responded.
“Okay, done deal. That's all I needed to hear. I'm going to try my best because you're our first choice,” Paul said. “If he gets past Brooklyn, then yeah. But let me make those calls so I can let you do what you need to do.”
Paul did indeed make it happen, and now Maluach will be starting his NBA journey with the Suns.
Suns believe Khaman Maluach fits in their culture
The Suns were coming into the offseason with goals of improving their center position, and that's what they did on draft night. After the draft, general manager Brian Gregory had nothing but good things to say about Maluach and how he fits with the Suns.
“Very excited about this evening with Khaman. We had a great talk with him afterwards. One of the things that was really important to us was the organizational piece that we had heading into it,” Gregory said. “We had a lot of different options, a lot of different things going on. To come away with a young talent like him comes from a great program.”
The Suns were near the bottom of the league in rim protection and effectiveness around the rim. Maluach is the start to help fix that.
“We constantly want to keep getting longer, more athletic, be able to play faster, defend better, and he definitely checks all those boxes,” Gregory said. “Plus, I talked to Coach (Jon) Scheyer yesterday. Just had some follow-up intel and everything was off the chart. His work ethic, his ability to be coached, his desire to become the very best. He fits in exactly with what we're looking to build here in Phoenix.”
Maluach should be a nice fit with the Suns, and hopefully, he will have success on the court early in his career.
