^ Nvm he is fine being drafted by SA
Let’s go backwards a bit. I’ve been really fascinated by all the different machinations that led to you landing in Sacramento. You’re one of the bigger draft surprises in the past few years in terms of being a guy who was widely seen as a top five talent, and then next thing you know the Kings are ecstatic to be getting you at No. 12. On that day, where did you think you might land on the high end? Where were the surprises, if any, for you? What’s the real story on your side about how you got to Sac?
You know, I think there were a lot of emotions going into the day. A lot of ideas. A lot of questions. On draft day, specifically, I thought I could go as high as (No.) 2 to Golden State. The realistic spots I was thinking were Golden State at 2, Chicago at 4, maybe Atlanta at 6, Detroit at 7, San Antonio at 11 and Sacramento at 12. This, of course, was without any trades happening. But I knew the floor was Sacramento. That was the discussion I had with my agent (Aaron Mintz of CAA). He was like, ‘Sacramento is going to pick you at 12 if you’re there.’ So that day — and I’m going to be honest with you — I keep my expectations low in basically everything I do so I don’t end up ever disappointing myself. I was like, ‘Alright I’m probably going to wind up going 12. I doubt they’re going to pick me at 2. I doubt I’m going to get picked at 4 — whatever, whatever.’ So that night comes around, and the picks keep happening. And I wasn’t surprised by any. To be honest, for a second I thought I was going to Washington (at No. 9). They were like, ‘Alright, you’re going to go to Washington.’ And I was like, ‘Oh, ok. I haven’t even met with them, but that works.’
From what I heard, they (the Wizards) thought Deni (Avdija, who they ultimately picked) was going to the Knicks (at No. 8), but when they went with Obi (Toppin) that meant it would be Deni because he was higher on their board than you. But it sounds like you might have been next on their board.
Yeah, so I thought for a second I was going to go nine. Then shortly thereafter I thought that they were like, ‘Nah, you’re not going nine.’ Now I’m like, ‘Alright, I’m either going 11 or 12.’ But me and Dev (Devin Vassell, who the Spurs picked at No. 11) have a good relationship, and I knew that San Antonio was really high on Dev. So I didn’t foresee them drafting another guard, so I was like, ‘They’re probably just going to pick Dev,’ and then Sac is going to pick me at 12. I had heard some trade rumors about Sac’s pick at 12, so now I’m like, ‘Well, is Sac going to pick me at 12, or are they going to trade it? What are they going to do?’ But I had one conversation with Sacramento leading up to the draft, and that was a couple days before the draft. And they were like, ‘Man, we absolutely love you.’ So I was like, ‘I’d really be surprised if Sacramento traded out this pick.’ …Then I got scooped up at 12, so it kind of worked itself out there.