NEW YORK — Of all the media buzzing around the invited NBA Draft prospects Wednesday at the Grand Hyatt, five of us appeared fully focused on Deandre Ayton.
And most were from the Bahamas.
A three-member gang from Bahamas-based website 10th Year Seniors is here to chronicle Ayton as closely as we are, knowing that Ayton is likely to become the first Bahamian in 40 years to be picked No. 1 in the NBA Draft.
“He’s basically a national hero if that happens,” said Renaldo Dorsett, of Nassau’s Tribune and the 10th Year Senior website.
“It’s huge,” said Timothy Bain, a reporter for Three Amigos Media and 10th Year Seniors, wearing a jacket with Bahamian flag colors on it.
The Bahamas last had a No. 1 pick in 1978, when the Trail Blazers took Mychal Thompson.
Arizona's DeAndre Ayton, left, would become the first Bahamian selected No. 1 in the NBA draft since 1978.
While Ayton grew up in Nassau, the Bahamian media started hearing about how good Ayton really was after he left the country at age 12 to play for a prep program in San Diego.
“Then after that all these videos started popping up,” Dorsett said. “There was one that said, 'The best eighth grader in the world.' And in the scrimmage against North Carolina, that’s when he really blew up.”
(10th Year Seniors has video of that game, when Ayton had 17 points and 18 rebounds against North Carolina in an exhibition game in the summer of 2015.)
Maybe Arizona keeps being a stopover for big-time Bahamians, too. John Nutt, who has family in Tucson and also works for 10th Year Seniors, noted how the Wildcats have offered a scholarship to four-star 2019 center Kai Jones, a Bahamas native now playing for Brewster Academy.
The media isn't the only group from the Bahamas following Ayton around, either. The Bahamas has sent an entire delegation led by the Minister of Youth, Sports and Culture showing up here in New York.
