The Brooklyn Nets on Thursday selected North Carolina Tar Heels center Day’Ron Sharpe with the Phoenix Suns’ No. 29 pick in the NBA Draft, acquired as part of a reported trade that is sending guard Landry Shamet to the Valley.
The 6-foot-11, 265-pound Sharpe averaged 9.5 points and 7.6 rebounds in 29 games played last season as a freshman.
The Suns traded the Nets Jevon Carter, along with the No. 29 pick, for Shamet, ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reported.
The trade is not yet official.
Shamet, 24, averaged 9.3 points and 1.6 assists in 61 games last year and hit 38.7% of his attempts from beyond the arch.
He has one year and $3.8 million remaining on his deal before he becomes a restricted free agent.
Prior to the trade, various mock drafts had the Suns selecting guards such as Nah’Shon “Bones” Hyland (No. 26 to Denver Nuggets), Sharife Cooper, Miles McBride, Tre Mann (No. 18 to Oklahoma City Thunder), Quentin Grimes (No. 25 to New York Knicks) or Ayo Dosunmu.
It’s been a decade since the Suns haven’t selected a player in the first round of the draft. Phoenix didn’t select a player in the first round in 2010, which prior to this past season was the last time the Suns had made the playoffs.
If the Suns don’t make a second-round pick, it would mark only the second time in franchise history the team won’t select a player in the draft (1998).