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Report: Media speculation on Twitter keeps Hawks from trading up for Huerter in NBA draft

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Kevin Huerter nearly went higher than No. 19 in Thursday night’s NBA draft.

According to ESPN, Atlanta Hawks general manager Travis Schlenk was ready to trade up with the Milwaukee Bucks at No. 17 in order to secure either the 6-foot-7 guard out of Maryland or another unnamed player Schlenk liked. A deal was in place to give up the No. 19 pick and another draft choice.

But then Schlenk, who had spent the past 12 years working in the front office of the Golden State Warriors, learned the Bucks were picking Final Four MVP Donte DiVincenzo of Villanova and the San Antonio Spurs were likely going with Miami’s Lonnie Walker IV at No. 18.

Huerter said that after the Spurs chose Walker, he was given a heads-up from a person of his management team that the Hawks were going to take him. He called the wait of the previous nine picks before he heard his name called “the longest 45 minutes of my life.”

Who knew it could have been the longest 35 minutes of his life?

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