The Hawks had a potential trade in place to move up in the 2018 NBA Draft. But that was before Atlanta general manager Travis Schlenk discovered through the media who other teams were planning to pick.
Schlenk said in an interview Friday he was hoping to acquire the 17th pick from the Bucks to select Maryland guard Kevin Huerter.
Schlenk, however, said he saw various reports indicating Huerter would be available at No. 19, where the Hawks were set to make their second first-round pick of the draft. So he elected to nix the trade with Milwaukee.
Multiple media outlets, including ESPN and Yahoo Sports, were reporting projected picks throughout the draft before they were announced.
"There were a couple of guys we felt really good about on the 19th pick, obviously Kevin (Huerter) was one of them, and it leaked who Milwaukee was going to take,” Schlenk said (via ESPN).
"So, all of a sudden, we were able to pull back out of that deal and keep the draft pick instead of packaging picks to move up because we knew that, two guys on the board we felt really good about and only one team in between us, so that was beneficial to us last night."
The Bucks drafted Villanova guard Donte DiVincenzo with the 17th pick.
The Hawks selected Real Madrid's Luka Doncic with the No. 3 pick. They traded the European star to the Mavericks for Oklahoma guard Trae Young, who was picked fifth overall, and a future first-rounder.
