2020 NBA Draft: Villanova's Jay Wright Hopes to see Saddiq Bey Join 76ers

Villanova head coach Jay Wright has hopes that his 2020 NBA Draft prospect Saddiq Bey will land with the Philadelphia 76ers.

The 2020 NBA Draft will go down a lot later than usual this year. Typically, the Philadelphia 76ers would be putting their draft board together and preparing to make their next wave of rookie selections towards the end of June.

However, the COVID-19 pandemic sent the NBA into unknown territory after forcing the league to suspend action for a while. Soon enough, the Sixers will be back in action as they are set to begin training camp 2.0 soon.

Then, next month, the NBA restart will occur. With the league planning to play into the month of October, NBA Commissioner Adam Silver had no choice but to postpone the NBA Draft lottery to August and the actual draft itself to October.

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So the many college and international prospects who plan to take their talents to the NBA will have to wait a little bit longer than usual to get selected by their next team. And with the timetables changing, the NBA and the NCAA allowed players to withdraw from the draft if they feel they didn't get enough out of the previous season since March Madness was canceled. 

Many eyes were on Villanova prospect Saddiq Bey as he has two more years of eligibility left -- so it seemed possible Bey could stay at Nova' for another year. On Tuesday, however, the soon-to-be-former Wildcat confirmed he would remain on the path of joining the NBA. Now, his college coach Jay Wright is hoping to see Bey land with the Philadelphia 76ers, according to NBC Sports Philadelphia.

"I'm biased, I would love to see him with the 76ers," Wright said, via Sean Kane. "I would love any of our guys to be with the 76ers because I'm a fan of our guys and a fan of the 76ers." Unfortunately for Wright, the Sixers have made it a habit to pass on a handful of Villanova players in the past.

While the 76ers did land Mikal Bridges a couple of years ago, the Sixers didn't keep the Philly native on the roster for long as they traded him away on draft night to acquire Texas Tech's, Zhaire Smith. The Sixers likely wouldn't pass up on Bey with the 22nd overall pick this year -- but there's a good chance the Villanova product gets selected before then anyway.

Justin Grasso covers the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated. You can follow him on Twitter: @JGrasso_


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Justin Grasso
JUSTIN GRASSO

Title: Credentialed writer/reporter covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation Email: JustinGrasso32@Gmail.com Location: Philadelphia, PA Expertise: Reporting, insight, and analysis on the Sixers and the NBA  Justin Grasso is a credentialed writer and publisher covering the Philadelphia 76ers for Sports Illustrated’s FanNation.  Grasso got his start in sports media in 2016 with FantasyPros, working the news desk, providing game-by-game player analysis and updates on the Portland Trail Blazers and the Golden State Warriors. By 2017, he joined FanSided’s Philadelphia Eagles site as a staff writer. After spending one season covering the Eagles as a staff writer, Grasso was promoted to become the site’s Co-Editor. For the next two NFL seasons, he covered the Eagles closely before broadening his NFL coverage. For a brief stint, Grasso covered the NFL on a national basis after joining Heavy.com as an NFL news desk writer. In 2019, Grasso joined the 76ers' beat on a part-time basis, stepping into a role with South Jersey’s 97.3 ESPN. Ahead of the 2019-2020 NBA season, he concluded a three-year stint covering the Eagles and joined the Sixers beat full-time. Grasso has covered the 76ers exclusively since then for Sports Illustrated. He is a member of the Pro Basketball Writer’s Association.  Twitter: @JGrasso_ Instagram: @JGrassoNBA