Former Phoenix Suns head coach Igo Kokoshov has added fresh fuel to one of the franchise’s most frustrating what-ifs, saying the team never really had a live debate about the 2018 draft choice that sent Deandre Ayton to Phoenix instead of Luka Doncic.
On the X&O’s Chat podcast, Kokoshov said, “We never, literally never, had a single serious strategic conversation about who we were going to draft, which gave me more than enough of an indication that the decision had already been made. So, Robert Sarver went to Arizona, so he had an emotional connection to Ayton.”
That line gives more weight to a suspicion Suns fans have carried for years: that the decision was driven less by open evaluation and more by Sarver’s ties to Arizona. If that’s what happened, then Phoenix didn’t just pass on a star. It apparently never even got the chance to seriously weigh a generational talent.
The sting is obvious. Doncic was viewed so highly at the time that even now there’s an argument he hasn’t fully matched the expectations attached to him on draft night. And yet the Suns’ choice looks even worse if the process was never truly allowed to breathe.
It also sends the mind straight into the alternate-universe loop. Pairing Doncic with Devin Booker - and Mikal Bridges, who was also part of that draft - is the kind of scenario that can keep a fan base up at night.
But as with any basketball what-if, the chain reaction is impossible to map cleanly. There’s no way to know how the center rotation would have shaken out, whether Chris Paul would still have arrived, or if the defense would have been good enough to support a run to the NBA Finals.
Maybe the Kevin Durant move never happens. Maybe another perfect frontcourt fit shows up.
Maybe the Suns are already wearing those two-trophy shirts.
What is clear is simpler and harsher: Robert Sarver’s legacy has another ugly entry.
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For Phoenix, the timing matters as much as the addition itself. The Suns are counting on Khaman Maluach and Oso Ighodaro to carry most of the center minutes, but injuries can change that picture fast, especially when a team is already trying to build out its interior depth. Reaths arrival at least keeps the Suns from having to lean too heavily on the same two names, and it raises the next question the team will have to answer as the frontcourt picture settles: how much more of the season will it need to cover there, and by whom? [Read more 🡒]
Suns Just Sent Another Message About Their Crowded Backcourt
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Schakels next stop is expected to be the Valley Suns for the upcoming season, which fits the pattern Phoenix has leaned on for players who still have something to prove in its system. For a team balancing immediate rotation concerns with long-term depth, these decisions can be easy to miss, but they often say plenty about where the organization sees the most competition and where it wants to keep a close eye on players closest to the next call-up. [Read more 🡒]