National Basketball Association

Phoenix Suns: 2017 NBA Draft Lottery results

Updated Mar. 4, 2020 11:11 p.m. ET

Fansided, Gerald Bourguet/FanSided via Hoops Habit

Lady Luck was unkind to the Phoenix Suns in the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery, dropping them to the fourth overall pick in this year's draft.

Entering the 2017 NBA Draft Lottery, the Phoenix Suns were one of seven franchises to never earn the No. 1 overall pick in the draft. Not only did Lady Luck spurn their advances for this year's top selection, but she also dropped them to the fourth overall pick.

To be fair, the Suns had the highest odds of landing at No. 4 going pick-by-pick. But after finishing the 2016-17 campaign with a miserable 24-58 record for the second-worst mark in the association, Suns fans were hoping they'd at least have a top-two pick to show for it.

Instead, Phoenix fell to fourth, with the Boston Celtics winning the lottery and the Los Angeles Lakers and Philadelphia 76ers bypassing the Suns in the pecking order. In doing so, Los Angeles keeps its first round pick, which would have gone to the Sixers if it had fallen out of the top three. This is the same protected pick the Suns sent to Philly in the Brandon Knight trade.

Devin Booker's presence as the team's representative for the second year in a row wasn't enough to woo Lady Luck for the Suns, who had the second-best odds at the No. 1 overall pick (19.9 percent) and the best odds at the No. 2 overall pick (18.8 percent). Phoenix entered the night with a 17.7 percent chance of falling to No. 3 and a 31.9 percent chance of falling to No. 4.

Now the question is what general manager Ryan McDonough will do with the fourth pick in the draft. Washington point guard Markelle Fultz seems to be the consensus No. 1 choice, followed closely by UCLA point guard Lonzo Ball and Kansas small forward Josh Jackson. Unfortunately, those three studs could all be gone by the time Phoenix is on the clock.

After those three, the draft starts to get a little more wide open. Duke's Jayson Tatum, Kentucky's De'Aaron Fox, Florida State's Jonathan Isaac, Kentucky's Malik Monk and NC State's Dennis Smith could all be in the mix at No. 4.

Tatum is not far behind Josh Jackson in terms of this year's small forwards. Fox outplayed Ball in the NCAA Tournament and is a tremendous defender, but his lack of an outside jump shot is worrisome, especially for a team that already has Eric Bledsoe, Tyler Ulis and Brandon Knight at the 1 and might consider moving Bled with the arrival of yet another point guard.

The same goes for Dennis Smith, a point guard whose draft stock has been slipping recently. Monk could be a big-time scorer, but the Suns already have Booker at the 2. Isaac is a versatile, high-upside pick for the frontcourt, but the Suns just made a similar pick twice last year with Marquese Chriss and Dragan Bender.

The Suns remain one of seven NBA franchises to never earn the No. 1 overall selection, joining the Denver Nuggets, Indiana Pacers, Memphis Grizzlies, Miami Heat, Oklahoma City Thunder and Utah Jazz. Excluding OKC's time as the Seattle SuperSonics, the Suns are the longest-tenured organization of the group.

This will be the fifth time in franchise history Phoenix has selected at the No. 4 spot after taking Corky Calhoun in 1972, John Shumate in 1974, Alvan Adams in 1975 and Dragan Bender in 2016. Aside from those four No. 4 overall selections, Phoenix has selected in the top five four other times.

In 1969, the Suns lost an infamous coin flip for the No. 1 overall pick and had to settle for No. 2, costing them their shot at future NBA legend Kareem Abdul-Jabbar. In 1987, Phoenix took Armen Gilliam with the second pick — right after David Robinson went first overall. The Suns have also chosen fifth on two occasions, taking Walter Davis in 1977 and Alex Len in 2013.

The Phoenix Suns continue to have poor luck in the NBA Draft Lottery, and unless someone like Fultz, Ball or Jackson falls to them at No. 4, they may have missed out on adding a truly dynamic pillar to their youth movement.