Freeport's Ryan Dunn heads to Suns as 28th pick in NBA Draft
NBA Commissioner Adam Silver congratulates Ryan Dunn after being selected as the No 28 pick in the NBA Draft at Barclays Center on Wednesday, June 26, 2024. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
It finally came. Ryan Dunn heard his name.
A basketball player from Freeport was experiencing a wonderful, unforgettable moment late Wednesday night inside Barclays Center. The 6-6 forward/guard out of Virginia, and before that Long Island Lutheran, had just been announced as the 28th overall pick in the NBA Draft.
He’s excited that the Phoenix Suns are his new team. Denver originally owned No. 28, but traded it to the Suns earlier in the evening.
“Everything that I thought of came to life,” Dunn said about the moment. “Flashbacks from when I was young, just dreaming of being in this position, walking across that stage in my mind. Hearing my name called and walking on the stage today, it all came true.”
This has become a family tradition. His brother, Justin Dunn, was also a first-round pick, but in a different sport. The Mets took him with the 19th overall pick in 2016. He was eventually traded to Seattle and pitched for the Mariners and Reds. He’s now rehabbing from shoulder surgery.
“It’s crazy because he’s living in Arizona as well, so we’re both going to be in the same state, again living together,” Ryan Dunn said. “So it’s going to be good being from New York, representing not as two athletes but brothers in both different sports.”
Ryan Dunn averaged 8.1 points and 6.9 rebounds last season as a sophomore. He’s known for one aspect of his game more than all the rest — defense.
He made the ACC’s 2023-24 All-Defensive team after averaging 2.3 blocks and 1.3 steals. Dunn was on the Naismith Defensive Player of the Year watch list. He passes a lot of credit to his coach, Tony Bennett.
“Coach Bennett drilled that defensive mindset in me,” Dunn said.
Offensively, Dunn’s three-point shot is a work in progress.
He didn’t take a lot of them in his two college seasons and he didn’t make a lot of the ones he took. As a sophomore, he shot 54.8% overall but just 20% on threes, going 7-for-35. He feels he can improve that with practice. He was actually a very good shooter from deep at LuHi where he played as a junior and senior before graduating in 2021.
He said he’s “forever grateful” to coach John Buck and his staff for the opportunity to play there.
“It helped me a lot,” Dunn said. “That program at LuHi was probably the best decision I made, to go there for my two years. … Their practices are like college practices.”