Suns draft pick Bogdan Bogdanovic leads Fenerbahce to Euroleague final
May 13, 2016, 8:03 PM
Phoenix Suns draft pick Bogdan Bogdanovic had nine points in overtime as his Fenerbahce Ulker team beat Laboral Kutxa 88-77 in the Euroleague semifinal, setting up a finals matchup Sunday against CSKA Moscow.
CSKA, a six-time champion, is in its sixth final in the last 10 years, but its last title came in 2008. Fenerbahce is seeking to become the first Turkish club to lift the trophy.
MVP chants for Bogdan Bogdanovic. He scored 18 points, half came in OT.
— David Pick (@IAmDPick) May 13, 2016
Phoenix love this. BOMBdonovic getting buckets in clutch for Fenerbahce.
— David Pick (@IAmDPick) May 13, 2016
Bogdanovic, the Suns’ 27th draft-and-stash pick from 2014, has already put together quite a stellar season. He hit a game-winner well beyond the three-point line during a game in April and the apparent MVP chants are a good sign Phoenix will even more likely attempt to sign the combo guard this offseason.
Suns general manager Ryan McDonough told Arizona Sports 98.7 FM in March the team expected to meet with Bogdanovic after the season.
“We’ll present a plan for him about how we kind of envision his role with the Suns,” McDonough said. “He does have very high-level experience. In terms of coming to the NBA, he’d obviously be a rookie by NBA standards but if we are able to bring him over this year, which we’d like to do if we can, that at 24 years old we think he’d be one of the more ready-made guys to plug in and be able to hopefully play right away.”
McDonough also added that Phoenix would ideally like to know Bogdanovic’s status for next season before the Suns approach the draft.
With Bogdanovic’s Euroleague season coming to a close Sunday, the draft lottery on Tuesday and the draft upcoming in late June, finding out the Serbian guard’s future in the Valley could be known soon.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
