Garrity An Example Of Draft Day’S Wheeling, Dealing Ways Vancouver Trip Full Of Adjustments For N.D. Star

Pat Garrity entered NBA draft headquarters in Vancouver, British Columbia on Wednesday night expecting to be surprised.

And boy did he get surprised.

Expecting to be a lottery pick, Garrity’s wait was extended to more than 90 minutes until the Milwaukee Bucks called his name with the 19th pick.

By the time the Notre Dame standout adjusted to dropping out of the top 13 picks, somebody reached up and grabbed the Bucks’ ballcap from his head and replaced it with a Phoenix Suns cap.

In a complicated deal involving the Bucks, the Suns and the Dallas Mavericks, Garrity was sent to the Valley of the Sun to perhaps play alongside Antonio McDyess, the former Denver Nuggets star.

The deal came so quickly, Garrity never even had time to talk to anyone from the Bucks organization.

“Wow,” Garrity said of the evening’s events. “I knew this would be exciting. But I didn’t know it would be this exciting.”

In Phoenix, the 6-foot-9, 231-pound Garrity is expected to be groomed to play the small forward position. He concluded his Notre Dame career with 2,085 points, third highest in Fighting Irish history.

“It’s a great honor to be selected in the first round,” Garrity said prior to the trade. “I have a great sense of pride because basketball doesn’t get a lot of coverage in Colorado. But I’ve always felt a lot of support from the people who watched me play when I was growing up.”

After it was suggested to Garrity that he might become a lottery pick, he decided to take his mother and father with him to Canada to be on hand for the big event. Then draft night turned into a long wait at Vancouver’s General Motors Place.

“You never know what to expect in a draft,” Garrity said. “People said I might be a lottery pick and I saw some draft projections that had me that high. But I was just happy to be drafted and get a chance to play pro basketball.”