Valley Suns select Nate Roberts, Olin Carter III in 2024 NBA G ...

The Valley Suns continued building out their roster for their inaugural season as the NBA G League affiliate of the Phoenix Suns, making two selections Saturday in the G League Draft.

With the 19th pick, the Suns chose former Washington Huskies big man Nate Roberts, who most recently played 10 games for the Motor City Cruise in last year’s Showcase Cup.

The 6-foot-11 Roberts started all 58 games he played over his last two seasons at Washington from 2020-22, averaging 5.4 points, 6.7 rebounds and 0.6 blocks in 22.5 minutes per game.

In the second round, the 50th pick netted the Suns guard Olin Carter III, who played 19 regular season games for the Sioux Falls Skyforce last year after playing collegiately for San Diego.

Carter started 10 of 19 games with the Skyforce, averaging 9.9 points and 1.5 assists to 0.7 turnovers on underwhelming shooting (29.3% on 6.1 3s per game). He shot much better at San Diego, where he led the West Coast Conference at 37.5% on seven 3s per game.

Here’s how he looked last season prior to the Skyforce trading for him:

The G League Draft started with some decently sized headlines, as former Los Angeles Lakers wing Matt Ryan was the top pick, with former Suns Landry Shamet and Chandler Hutchison also making the top 5.

The Valley Suns begin their inaugural season with a back-to-back against the Santa Cruz Warriors on the road Nov. 8-9. The home opener at Mullett Arena on Arizona State’s Tempe campus will be Nov. 11 against the Stockton Kings. Get tickets here.