Wednesday night several players had their NBA dreams come true during the 2020 edition of the NBA Draft. The event took place much later in the year than usual, but it was still a good day for Arizona. The Wildcats had three of their players selected in the draft with guard Josh Green leading the way as the 18th overall pick. Green will make the move to Dallas where he will get an opportunity to join the Mavericks, a franchise current UA assistant coach Jason Terry spent many years of his career with during his time in the league.
"It's one of those moments ... you don't know what emotion to really express," Green said of hearing his name called by NBA commissioner Adam Silver on Thursday. "For me being with my family is awesome. It's something I've dreamed of my whole entire life, so for it to really happen is amazing."
It didn't take long for another UA player to come off the board as Wildcats power forward and the defending Pac-12 Freshman of the Year Zeke Nnaji was selected 22nd overall by the Denver Nuggets.
UA's third pick of the draft came a little later as point guard Nico Mannion was selected with the 48th overall pick with another Arizona connection made with his selection. Former UA star Steve Kerr's Golden State Warriors picked Mannion helping his alma mater become the only team in the Pac-12 with three draft picks this year.
All three players stayed at Arizona for just one season but all three made a big impact during their brief time in Tucson. The trio finished as UA's top three scorers during the 2019-20 season with Nnaji finishing as the leader of that group after averaging 16.1 points for the Wildcats to go along with a team-leading 8.6 rebounds.
Arizona's three selections tied the program with both Duke and Kentucky as teams with the most players picked in this year's draft.
Green and Nnaji being selected in the first round means UA head coach Sean Miller is now responsible for coaching nine first-round picks during his time with the Wildcats. The program has 25 first-round selections as a whole.
The selection of three Arizona players Wednesday marks just the sixth time of such an occurrence with the last instance coming back in 2001 when the Wildcats had four players selected in the NBA Draft – Richard Jefferson, Gilbert Arenas, Michael Wright, Loren Woods.
This is the first year Arizona has had two players selected in the first round since the 2015 NBA Draft when Stanley Johnson was picked fourth overall by the Detroit Pistons followed by Rondae Hollis-Jefferson being selected at No. 23 by the Portland Trailblazers before his rights were traded to the Brooklyn Nets.
Since 1948 the Wildcats have had 75 players picked in the NBA Draft with 46 of those selections coming since 1988.
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